Prepared for the Office of Public Affairs (OPA)
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Editorial Note: The DHS Daily Briefing is a collection of news articles related to Department’s mission. The inclusion of particular stories is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse the political viewpoints or affiliations included in news coverage.

NBC News [11/30/2025 10:44 AM, Megan Lebowitz, 34509K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday on NBC News’ "Meet the Press" that authorities believe the suspect in the National Guard shooting was radicalized in the U.S. and that the asylum process for migrants would resume once the administration has dealt with a backlog of applications under new standards following the attack. President Donald Trump said last week he would "permanently pause" migration from "third world countries" after the suspect in the shooting was identified as an Afghan national. NBC News previously reported that the suspect was granted asylum this year. Noem said Sunday that the administration believes the suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was "radicalized since he’s been here in this country.” "We do believe it was through connections in his home community and state, and we’re going to continue to talk to those who interacted with him," she said. In a separate interview on ABC News’ "This Week," Noem said the suspect "could have been radicalized" in the U.S. NBC News has reported that Lakanwal, who served alongside U.S. troops in Afghanistan, came to the U.S. in 2021, during the Biden administration, but was granted asylum during the Trump administration. Lakanwal will be charged with first-degree murder, Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., said last week. National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom died last week, and National Guard member Andrew Wolfe is still hospitalized. Asked about the vetting process to approve his asylum claim during the Trump administration, Noem argued that "vetting is happening when they come into the country, and that was completely abandoned under Joe Biden’s administration.” She also said that "the vetting process all happened under Joe Biden’s administration." In an interview on "Fox News Sunday," Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed that there was "minimal to little vetting" of people who were granted entry to the U.S. through the Biden administration’s Operation Allies Welcome program. The Trump administration has not provided evidence that the Biden administration did not thoroughly vet the suspect. NBC News has reported that the suspect was among a group of the most extensively vetted Afghans who worked alongside U.S. forces. He would have been vetted again when he applied for asylum, according to multiple officials. He was granted asylum in April during the Trump administration. A Biden spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said in a separate interview on "Meet the Press" that the Trump administration is "going to blame Joe Biden on everything.” "It is almost getting comical at this point," he added. Last week, the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said on X that "USCIS has halted all asylum decisions until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.” Noem said the asylum process would resume after the backlog of cases was "cleared up" and vetted under the Trump administration’s standards. "The individuals who are here in this country on that program need to be vetted under our standards that we’re implementing under President Trump to ensure that they even should be in our country and, if they’re not, removed immediately," Noem said. Asked whether she would move to deport people with pending asylum claims, she said, "We will if they should be.” "Absolutely, yes," she added. Kelly said in his interview that "it sounds like there was some vetting done in the last administration.” "It sounds like they did not do enough vetting before they gave him his asylum claim," he added. "She talked about changing the vetting process. I think that’s a good idea.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link] The New York Post [11/30/2025 12:00 PM, Ryan King, 42219K] reports Noem also vowed that the Trump administration will carry out mass deportations of immigrants from "third world" countries in response to the shooting. She added the asylum process will only be reopened after officials clear up the backlog of cases. "I will say we believe he was radicalized since he’s been here in this country," Noem told NBC’s "Meet the Press" on Sunday. "We do believe it was through connections in his home community and state, and we’re going to continue to talk to those who interacted with him.” "So far we’ve had some participation," she added. "We will never allow this to continue to happen in our country, allow individuals who came to our country that were unvetted by Joe Biden, allowed to run free and loose.” Noem stressed that migrants with pending asylum claims aren’t off limits for deportation. "If they shouldn’t be, absolutely. Yes. We are going to go through every single person that has a pending asylum claim, has an asylum claim here in this country," she declared, when asked if she would deport immigrants with current asylum cases. "[We will] ensure that they deserve to still be in this country, that they still have the purposes for which they claimed that asylum in place.” "And that they’re not here being radicalized, and perpetuating dangerous criminal activity against our Americans.” Afghan Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, who previously worked on one of the CIA’s "Zero Units" in Afghanistan before being allowed into the US in 2021, was arrested last Wednesday for the shooting rampage, which killed one National Guard solider and critically wounded another. Lakanwal, who is expected to recover from his injuries after a National Guard member shot him, is facing one count of first-degree murder and two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed, according to U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro. Authorities have provided few details about his alleged motivations, though Attorney General Pam Bondi teased that information is coming. "He was radicalized. You’re going to hear a lot more about that," Bondi told "Fox News Sunday.” "These young men and women in the Guard, they want to help our country. They want to be here. They are patriots," she added. "Yet they will not be attacked by a radical Islamic terrorist who screams by reports ‘Allah Akbar’ before shooting two of our Guard members and almost killing more.” Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died from her injuries on Thursday and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains hospitalized with critical injuries from the attack. After the devastating Thanksgiving eve attack, Trump vowed to "permanently pause" migration from all "Third World Countries.” "The President is absolutely determined to stop all processes at this point in time from third-world countries until we can have a thorough opportunity to go through these individuals," Noem said Sunday. "These countries that people have been traveling to our shores from for so many years under the Biden administration, their governments didn’t tell us who they were. We don’t have a proper vetting process," she added. "We’re not going to allow this to continue.” Reuters [11/30/2025 6:04 PM, Ted Hesson and Jasper Ward, 36480K] Video: HERE reports that after the shooting, U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration pointed to a lack of vetting of Afghans and other foreign nationals during the term of former President Joe Biden, although Lakanwal was granted asylum under Trump. Trump told reporters on Sunday his administration could pause asylum admissions into the United States for an extended period. "No time limit, but it could be a long time," Trump told reporters on Air Force One. "We have enough problems. We don’t want those people." FOX News [11/30/2025 7:55 PM, Bonny Chu, 40621K] reports that Lakanwal entered the U.S. legally in 2021 under the Biden administration’s Operation Allies Welcome, a program that evacuated and resettled Afghan refugees as the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. Noem said that although asylum was formally granted to Lakanwal during the Trump administration in April, the vetting process all happened under the Biden administration, criticizing what she described as inadequate screening of Afghans and other foreign nationals during former President Joe Biden’s term. "When this abandonment of Afghanistan happened, the Biden administration put people on airplanes [and] brought them to the United States without vetting them," Noem said. "They brought them into our country and then said they would vet them afterward.” "All of that vetting information was collected by Joe Biden’s administration," she added. "Joe Biden completely did not vet any of these individuals.” According to Noem, President Donald Trump has since implemented measures to strengthen vetting for incoming immigrants, including reviewing social media activity and checking on who they interact with.

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Politico [11/30/2025 10:14 AM, Cheyanne M. Daniels, 2100K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Sunday said the motive behind the shooting of two National Guard members remains unknown but that the alleged shooter was “radicalized” upon coming to the U.S. In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Noem shared that officials are using “every tool at our disposal” to investigate 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who allegedly opened fire just blocks from the White House on Nov. 26. “We believe he was radicalized since he’s been here in this country. We do believe it was through connections in his home community and state, and we’re going to continue to talk to those who interacted with him, who were his family members,” Noem said. She added that officials have received “some participation” from those they have interviewed so far. Lakanwal is accused of ambushing U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24. He was charged with first degree murder after Beckstrom succumbed to her injuries on Thanksgiving Day. Wolfe remains listed in critical condition. Lakanwal, an asylum seeker who came to the U.S. in 2021 following the Afghanistan withdrawal, was part of an Afghan Army Zero Unit. Those units were backed by the CIA. He was granted asylum by the Trump administration in April of this year, though Noem on Sunday rejected the idea that the current administration bore any responsibility for Lakanwal’s residency in the U.S. “The vetting process all happened under Joe Biden’s administration,” Noem said.

Breitbart [11/30/2025 11:43 AM, Pam Key, 2416K] reports Sunday on NBC’s "Meet the Press," Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said the Biden administration’s "abandonment" of Afghanistan resulted in a lack of proper vetting of resettled Afghans, which led to the shooting of two National Guard members. Noem said, "We know that this individual came into the country under Operation Allies. Welcome. And during the Biden administration and that disastrous withdrawal that we all watched unfold in 2021, he’s been in this country and was in the Washington state area. We do know that we’re talking to his contacts and going through information, continuing to gather that as we go forward, but we’re going to use every tool at our disposal to bring him to justice and make him pay for what he has done, not just to America, but how he’s devastated these families and taken the lives, the life of one of our soldiers and devastatingly injured another one." She continued, "We will never allow this to continue to happen in our country, allow individuals who came to our country that were unvetted by Joe Biden allowed to run free and loose, we are going to bring them to justice and make sure that they’re returned out of this country. If they aren’t here for the purposes of being an American." [Editorial note: consult video at source link] NewsMax [11/30/2025 11:36 AM, Staff, 4109K] reports that in back-to-back Sunday morning interviews, Noem argued the Biden administration’s withdrawal left U.S. officials unable to properly screen tens of thousands of evacuees flown out during the chaotic final days of America’s presence in Kabul. "You need to remember that when this abandonment of Afghanistan happened, the Biden administration put people on airplanes, brought them to the United States without vetting them," Noem said. "They brought them into our country and said they would vet them afterwards.” According to Noem, effective screening was impossible at the time because the Afghan government had collapsed. With no functioning government, she said, U.S. authorities had no way to obtain the records typically required to confirm a person’s identity — background documentation, service history, biometric data, or any reliable verification tools. "You have to have a stable government that can give you information," she said. "All of that vetting information was collected by Joe Biden’s administration that was used in the process.” Noem said Lakanwal arrived through Operation Allies Welcome, the program launched by Biden to bring Afghans to safety following the withdrawal. She claims he was "unvetted" upon entry and screened only afterward, "but not done well based on what the guidelines were put forward by President Biden.” She warned that admitting individuals from unstable nations without full identity confirmation creates dangerous gaps in U.S. security. "For these individuals, when they are brought into our country, it’s a dangerous situation," Noem said. "If you don’t know who they are, if they are coming from a country that’s not stable and doesn’t have a government that can help you vet them, then we shouldn’t allow it.” Noem contrasted Biden’s withdrawal-era policies with what she described as the Trump administration’s strengthened vetting practices. She said current procedures now include deep reviews of social media activity, digital contacts, and expanded biometric collection before anyone is allowed into the U.S. "Now when we vet individuals under this administration, we know who they are and why they are here," Noem said. "Unfortunately, this individual — his entire process happened under Joe Biden’s watch.”

Washington Examiner [11/30/2025 1:36 PM, Molly Parks, 1394K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said former President Joe Biden’s administration did not vet the suspect accused of shooting two National Guard members on Wednesday in Washington, D.C. The suspect, 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, is alleged to have killed 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom and critically injured 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe of the West Virginia National Guard in the ambush. Lakanwal, who reportedly previously worked with the CIA in Afghanistan, entered the United States under Biden’s Operation Allies Welcome program but was granted asylum earlier this year under President Donald Trump’s administration. Noem addressed this in an interview with NBC News’s Kristen Welker, saying it was up to the Biden administration to vet the individual before the Trump administration granted him asylum. "The vetting process, Kristen, happens when the person comes into the country, and Joe Biden completely did not vet any of these individuals, did not vet this individual, waited until he got into the United States, and then that application for asylum was opened under the Joe Biden administration," Noem said. Lakanwal was part of a CIA strike unit that was extensively vetted before their participation in Afghanistan, according to an NBC News report. Noem said the Biden administration did not vet Lakanwal when he applied for asylum, putting the onus of the vetting process on the previous White House, saying, "That’s the Biden administration’s responsibility.” "When this abandonment of Afghanistan happened, the Biden administration put people on airplanes, brought them to the United States without vetting them. They brought them into our country and then said they would vet them afterwards," Noem said.

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Washington Times [11/30/2025 10:46 AM, Tom Howell Jr, 852K]

NewsMax [11/30/2025 11:52 AM, Staff, 4109K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday that the administration won’t restart asylum claims until every applicant is thoroughly vetted under the new standards established by President Donald Trump. Appearing on NBC’s "Meet the Press," Noem said the administration has halted all such cases to prioritize national security and to clean up what she described as the "chaos" left behind by President Joe Biden. The Trump administration on Friday confirmed it has paused all asylum rulings, one day after the president said he would suspend migration from "third world countries.” The administration’s actions came following the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington on Wednesday, killing one, allegedly at the hands of an Afghan. "The president is absolutely determined to stop all processes at this point in time from third world countries," Noem said. "We need a thorough opportunity to go through these individuals, know they are here for the right intentions, and should even be in our country to begin with.” Noem said the administration views the pause as essential to protect Americans, arguing that many of the nations that asylum seekers are coming from cannot provide reliable information about their citizens. "These third world countries don’t have stable governments," she said. "They can’t tell us who these people are. That’s really the consequence of what we are seeing unfold with the violence on our streets.” Noem blamed years of lax enforcement under the Biden administration for letting individuals enter the system without meaningful screening. She said the lack of proper vetting — and the inability of foreign governments to provide necessary records — compromised national security and fueled abuse of the asylum program. The restart, she said, won’t happen until two major steps are complete. "It will start when we know we have dealt with the backlog that we have," Noem said. "Joe Biden left us with a backlog of 1.5 million asylum cases.” She added that applicants with legitimate claims were often stuck waiting years because the previous administration "allowed so many people to abuse that program" without even processing paperwork. "The individuals who are here in the program need to be vetted under our standards," Noem said. She emphasized that President Trump’s approach relies heavily on expanded checks, including deeper background reviews and tighter scrutiny of applicants’ origins. Noem said anyone who does not meet the new criteria "should be removed immediately," and only once the system is cleared and reinforced will asylum claims resume — "until we are sure that there will be someone who truly deserves the program.”

NewsMax [11/30/2025 12:18 PM, Mark Swanson, 4109K] reports President Donald Trump took to social media Sunday to blast former President Joe Biden and his administration over their immigration and asylum policies, accusing them of having "really screwed our country.” Trump’s Truth Social post comes just days after a National Guard member was killed and another critically wounded, allegedly by an Afghan who entered the U.S. during the Biden administration. "Crooked Joe Biden, [Alejandro] Mayorkas, and so-called ‘Border Czar’ Kamala Harris really screwed our Country by letting anyone and everyone come in totally unchecked and unvetted!" Trump posted. The Afghan, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, has been charged in the attack that killed 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom. Authorities say Lakanwal entered the U.S. during the Biden administration’s Operation Allies Welcome evacuation program launched after the Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday the program admitted large numbers of Afghans before full vetting could occur, leaving gaps in background checks as the Afghan government collapsed. Noem argues Lakanwal’s case reflects those failures, saying he was brought into the country without sufficient verification. Mayorkas served as secretary of Homeland Security for all four years of Biden’s administration. Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.

Axios [11/30/2025 9:50 PM, Rebecca Falconer, 12972K] reports President Trump said Sunday he plans to "honor" two West Virginia National Guard members who were shot in an ambush-style attack in Washington, D.C., last week. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to the White House that he’d invited the parents of 20-year-old Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, who died of her injuries, to the White House. "I said, ‘When you’re ready,’ because that’s a tough thing, ‘come to the White House; we’re going to honor Sarah,’" the president said. "And likewise with Andrew, recover or not," Trump said of Beckstrom’s 24-year-old colleague, Andrew Wolfe, who was critically injured in the attack. Communities in West Virginia have in recent days been honoring the National Guard members, with state Gov. Patrick Morrisey issuing a proclamation requesting West Virginians to "observe a statewide moment of silence or prayer" on Friday. Morrisey told Fox News on Sunday that he had visited Wolfe in the hospital a day earlier and he "is still in critical condition, he’s fighting for his life." The suspect in the shooting near the White House faces charges including one count of first-degree murder.

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Breitbart [12/1/2025 3:43 AM, Staff, 2416K]

Breitbart [11/30/2025 10:28 PM, Elizabeth Weibel, 2416K] reports President Donald Trump revealed that one of the National Guardsmen who was shot in Washington, DC, on Wednesday is "fighting for his life.” When asked by a reporter on Sunday on Air Force One if he had spoken to the family of Andrew Wolfe, 24, one of the National Guardsmen who was shot, Trump said he had "spoken to both families." Trump also added that Wolfe’s "parents are unbelievably great people" who want everyone to pray for their son. "Have you spoken to Andrew Wolfe’s family, and can you give us an update?" a reporter asked. "I have spoken to both families," Trump responded. "Well, I mean, I can give you an update: they’re devastated. Does that make sense to you?". "Of course," the reporter responded, asking, "Can you give us an update on Andrew Wolfe’s condition?". Trump responded by sharing that U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, one of the West Virginia National Guardsmen who was shot, is "no longer with us." On Thursday, Trump shared that Beckstrom had died. "Andrew is fighting for his life," Trump added. "His parents are unbelievably great people, highly religious people. And, they’re praying, and they want everybody to pray for Andrew. He has a chance to make it.” Trump continued to describe Wolfe’s parents as being "so positive.” As a result of the shooting, which led to three people being shot, the White House was placed on lockdown, Breitbart News reported. During a press conference on Thursday, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeannine Pirro identified Beckstrom and Wolfe as the National Guardsmen who were shot. Pirro also shared that they had been sworn in less than one day before the attack on Wednesday. Breitbart News reported that the suspect behind the attack was identified as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national. Lakanwal was reported to have entered the United States under former President Joe Biden’s "Operation Allies Welcome" program. CIA Director John Ratcliffe also revealed that Lakanwal had worked with the agency "as a member of a partner force in Kandahar, Afghanistan.”

Breitbart [11/30/2025 12:07 PM, Pam Key, 2416K] reports on this week’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said that the suspected shooter of two National Guard troops in Washington, D.C. “should have never been in our country.” Host Martha MacCallum said, “Lets start with the question of vetting. The Washington Post reporting this, counterterrorism officials did vet the guard shooting suspect before he entered the U.S. one of the individuals they talked to said the suspect was vetted years ago before working with the CIA in Afghanistan and then again before he arrived in the U.S. in 2021. Those examinations involve both the National Counterterrorism Center as well as the CIA. So where are we in tracking the path of the suspect? What was something missed in the vetting, or was he possibly radicalized once he got here?” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [11/30/2025 11:36 AM, Staff, 40621K] reports White House border czar Tom Homan joins ‘Sunday Morning Futures’ to weigh in on the D.C. National Guard shooting, vetting concerns and President Donald Trump’s immigration policy changes. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Daily Caller [11/30/2025 12:30 PM, Jason Cohen, 835K] reports White House border czar Tom Homan predicted Sunday the Trump administration will deport the majority of Third World migrants due to vetting challenges. Two National Guardsmen were shot Wednesday, allegedly by an Afghan national brought into the U.S. under the Biden administration. The attack prompted President Donald Trump to announce in a Thursday post on Truth Social that his administration would "permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries." Homan said on Fox News’s "Sunday Morning Futures" that Third World nations could not be relied upon to provide accurate information for vetting migrants. "[T]hese Third World nations, they don’t have systems like we do. So, a lot of these Afghanistans, when they did get here and get vetted, they had no identification at all. Not a single travel document, not one piece of identification," Homan said. "And we’re going to count on the people that run Afghanistan, the Taliban, to provide us any information [on] who the bad guys were or who the good guys are? Certainly not. And many people need to understand that most terrorists in this world aren’t in any database." The president also wrote in his Thursday post he would "terminate all of the millions of Biden illegal admissions," along with deporting those who do not offer value to the United States. Homan said Trump is correct to evaluate all migrants who entered under Biden. Similarly, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem asserted Sunday on NBC News’s "Meet the Press" the Trump administration would deport individuals with pending asylum claims.

AP [11/30/2025 10:05 PM, Farnoush Amiri, 14862K] reports the Afghan man accused of shooting two National Guard members blocks from the White House had been unraveling for years, unable to hold a job and flipping between long, lightless stretches of isolation and taking sudden weekslong cross-country drives. Rahmanullah Lakanwal’s behavior deteriorated so sharply that a community advocate reached out to a refugee organization for help, fearing he was becoming suicidal. Emails obtained by The Associated Press reveal mounting warnings about the asylum-seeker whose erratic conduct raised alarms long before the attack that jolted the nation’s capital on Wednesday, the eve of Thanksgiving. The previously unreported concerns offer the clearest picture yet of how he was struggling in his new life in the United States. Even so, when the community member who works with Afghan families in Washington state saw on the news that Lakanwal was named as the suspect in the attack, they said they were stunned, unable to square the violence with the memory of seeing Lakanwal play with his young sons. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to share undisclosed details while cooperating with the FBI in its investigation. West Virginia National Guard Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, was killed in the shooting, and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, was critically wounded. Lakanwal, 29, has been charged with first-degree murder. In Afghanistan, Lakanwal worked in a special Afghan Army unit known as a Zero Unit. The units were backed by the CIA. He entered the United States in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, a program that evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the American withdrawal. Many had worked alongside U.S. troops and diplomats. As investigators work to determine a motive, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that officials “believe he was radicalized since he’s been here in this country. We do believe it was through connections in his home community and state and we’re going to continue to talk to those who interacted with him, who were his family members.” She offered no additional information to support her statement.

CBS News [11/30/2025 10:03 PM, Madeleine May, Kiki Intarasuwan, 39474K] reports the suspect accused of shooting two West Virginia National Guard members in Washington, D.C., had been struggling with his mental health — often isolating himself in a dark room — in the years after he left Afghanistan and entered the U.S., according to emails sent by a case worker who was helping his family access services after they resettled in Bellingham, Washington. Rahmanullah Lakanwal entered the U.S. in 2021 as part of the Biden-era Operation Allies Welcome after the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, officials said. According to emails dated January 2024 obtained by CBS News, the 29-year-old had been struggling to hold a job and had not been doing well mentally for more than a year. In an email sent on Jan. 11, 2024, to the nonprofit group U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, the concerned case worker said Lakanwal had not worked in a year and his family had been served an eviction notice for nonpayment of rent. "World Relief volunteers are trying to patch things for that family - but I think the father has mental health issues that are not addressed, and he won’t talk to anyone," the email, sent the year before Lakanwal’s asylum claim was approved, read in part. World Relief is one of the refugee resettlement agencies that assisted in the relocation of Afghan evacuees. Washington state took in nearly 3,000 Afghan nationals, including Lakanwal, his wife and their five sons. The family had been living in Bellingham, and Lakanwal drove across the country to Washington, D.C., before the attack, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said during a news conference last week. One of the victims, Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died Thursday, while the other, Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains hospitalized. In another email sent Jan. 31, 2024, the case worker said Lakanwal had "not been functional as a person, father and provider since March of last year, 03/2023." "He spends most of his time for weeks on end in his darkened bedroom, not speaking to anyone, not even his wife and older kids," the email said. The email also describes "manic episodes for one or two weeks at a time where he will take off in the family car," but also "interim" periods where he "tries to make amends." The case worker, who is not a mental health professional, later said in the email that they believed Lakanwal is suffering "…PTSD from his work with the US military in Afghanistan." According to a former Afghan commando who spoke with CBS News, Lakanwal led a unit of Afghan special forces in the south of the country and worked closely with the international troops before the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. The former commando also said that Lakanwal was left deeply troubled by the death of a close friend and fellow Afghan commander in 2024, whom the former commando said had unsuccessfully sought asylum in the U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claimed Sunday that Lakanwal, who is facing murder charges, was "radicalized since he’s been here in this country." "We do believe it was through connections in his home community and state, and we’re going to continue to talk to those who interacted with him," Noem said Sunday on NBC’s "Meet the Press." She provided no further details. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [11/30/2025 5:15 PM, Greg Wehner, 40621K] reports the Afghan man accused of shooting two National Guard members last week had been mentally declining for years, according to emails reviewed by The Associated Press that detailed long stretches of isolation, escalating instability and sudden cross-country trips that preceded the attack blocks from the White House. The AP reported that 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal had drawn concern for months, with interviews and records showing him dropping out of work, slipping into long periods of silence and taking abrupt road trips ahead of the shooting. One email cited by the AP warned that "Rahmanullah has not been functional as a person, father and provider since March of last year," describing how he quit his job, shut himself in a "darkened room" for days and stopped responding even to his wife and older children. The emails showed that an advocate feared he might harm himself but said they never saw signs suggesting he might become violent toward others. The emails also described how he alternated between "periods of dark isolation and reckless travel," including trips to Chicago, Arizona and eventually Washington, D.C., shortly before the shooting. The swings reportedly intensified as he abandoned English classes, drifted in and out of short-term jobs and left his children arriving at school unbathed or wearing the same clothes for days. In one email cited by the AP, the advocate wrote that attempts to correct course often "quickly evolved into ‘manic’ episodes for one or two weeks at a time, where he will take off in the family car, and drive nonstop," leaving his wife to repeatedly manage the fallout. Staff from the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants visited Bellingham in March 2024 after receiving the warnings, but the AP reported the effort led to no meaningful contact and left the advocate believing he declined the organization’s help. Authorities say his deterioration culminated the night before Thanksgiving when he allegedly opened fire near the White House, killing West Virginia National Guard Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and critically injuring Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24. The shooting stunned Washington and raised new questions about how concerns stretching back more than a year failed to prompt intervention.

Washington Post [12/1/2025 5:03 AM, Mariana Alfaro, Brianna Sacks, and Karin Brulliard, 32099K] reports a brazen, close-range shooting last week of two young National Guard members doing routine patrols outside of a Metro station in Washington has left communities in West Virginia in mourning and many around the country searching for answers. Spec. Sarah Beckstrom, a 20-year-old who joined the Guard two years ago after graduating from high school in Webster County, West Virginia, died on Thanksgiving in a hospital bed with her parents by her side. Her colleague and friend, Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, is still hospitalized, President Donald Trump said Sunday. “Andrew is fighting for his life” and “he has a chance to make it,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “His parents are unbelievably great people, highly religious people, and they’re praying, and they want everybody to pray for Andrew.” Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, was arrested immediately after the shooting, just a block away from the White House. He is a 29-year-old father of five children who came to the United States after Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in 2021. Lakanwal had worked for a CIA-organized counterterrorism outfit in Afghanistan, part of one of the groups called “Zero Units,” which took part in raids. Lakanwal came to the U.S. in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome (OAW), a Biden-era program that helped resettle Afghan nationals after the U.S. military withdrawal, and had been living in a small apartment in Bellingham, Washington. Through the OAW program, Lakanwal received “many benefits” including housing, an official with knowledge of the situation told The Washington Post on Sunday. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. Lakanwal has now been charged with murder and could face the death penalty, a top federal prosecutor said Friday. Lakanwal also faces three counts of possessing a firearm during a crime of violence and two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed. Shortly after the attack, other Guard members shot the suspect, who was taken to a hospital and placed under heavy guard.

NBC News [11/30/2025 8:35 AM, Dan De Luce and Rich Schapiro, 34509K] reports that, before Rahmanullah Lakanwal settled in a quiet part of Washington state, he was part of a secret unit of Afghans who operated under CIA direction and hunted down Taliban commanders in highly dangerous missions. They "took malignant actors off the battlefield and saved American lives, period," said Andrew Sullivan, who served as an officer with the Army’s 1st Division in Afghanistan and is now executive director of No One Left Behind, a nonprofit that helps resettle Afghans who worked for the U.S. military during the war. These members of "Zero Units," also known as National Strike Units, were among the most extensively vetted of any Afghans who worked with American forces. CIA officers hailed their bravery, skill and loyalty, and the agency prioritized their evacuation from Afghanistan following the fall of Kabul in 2021 because they were prime targets for the Taliban. But since arriving in the United States, thousands of these Afghan veterans have lived in a legal limbo without work permits, struggling to feed their families, according to refugee advocates. Their former CIA and military colleagues appealed to both the Biden and Trump administrations and to Congress to take action to resolve their legal status, warning that the lack of progress was driving some veterans into despair, the advocates said. Lakanwal, 29, is accused of driving across the country and shooting two National Guard members near the White House last week, killing Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and critically wounding Andrew Wolfe, 24. The suspect, who was shot and wounded during the attack, will face charges of first-degree murder and other offenses, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro has said. Authorities have not provided a motive for the shooting, and a relative of Lakanwal’s has said the family cannot fathom why a man who fought alongside Americans in Afghanistan may have carried out such an attack. "I need your help to know why this happened," the relative told NBC News last week, his voice cracking with emotion. In the wake of the shooting, President Donald Trump has called for a full review of all Afghans admitted to the country and a halt to processing any immigration requests from Afghans seeking to resettle in the United States. Some administration officials have claimed without evidence that the Biden administration failed to vet Lakanwal. But Lakanwal, as a member of the CIA-trained strike force, would have undergone extensive vetting before he joined the Zero Unit and also regular security checks during his tenure, former intelligence and military officials said. The CIA oversaw the evacuation of Lakanwal and nearly 10,000 members of the force when the U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021. Like other refugees, Lakanwal would have been vetted again, multiple officials said, when he applied for asylum, which was granted in April — during the Trump administration. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson on Saturday blamed Trump’s predecessor. "This animal would’ve never been here if not for Joe Biden’s dangerous policies which allowed countless unvetted criminals to invade our country and harm the American people," Jackson said in an emailed response to a request for comment. Former intelligence officers and military veterans who work with refugees say even the most extensive vetting cannot guarantee that a person will never resort to violence. "Vetting can help mitigate threats, but it doesn’t eliminate threats," said Geeta Bakshi, a former CIA officer who worked in Afghanistan and now runs FAMIL, a nonprofit that assists members of the Zero Units. "It’s hard to say what motivated this individual to act in such a violent and horrific way. You never know what’s going on in someone’s head, or why their mindset shifts.”

Reported similarly:
UPI [11/30/2025 1:07 PM, Stephen Feller, 2416K]

CBS News [11/30/2025 2:39 PM, Ahmad Mukhtar and Nicole Sganga, 39474K] reports an image of an ID badge circulating widely online that shows the suspect in the shooting of the National Guard members says he was assigned to the "Kandahar Strike Force" or "03" unit, one of a number of so-called "Zero Units" that worked closely with U.S. and other foreign forces during the war in Afghanistan. A former senior Afghan military source confirmed to CBS News that the ID badge is authentic. A U.S. official briefed on the shooting investigation and a former senior Afghan National Defense and Security Forces member told CBS News that the suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, had been part of a "Zero Unit," an Afghan intelligence unit and paramilitary force that worked with the CIA. The units were exclusively composed of Afghan nationals and operated under the umbrella of the National Directorate of Security, or NDS, the intelligence agency established with CIA backing for Afghanistan’s previous, U.S.-backed government. They were considered by the U.S. and its international partners to be among the most trusted domestic forces in Afghanistan. Those units are often labeled "death squads" by human rights groups. The units were known in Afghanistan for their secrecy and alleged brutality, and members were implicated in numerous extrajudicial killings of civilians, particularly during night raids. The U.S. official briefed on the investigation confirmed the suspect had been disturbed by the casualties in this unit and, more recently, deeply troubled by the killing of his close friend overseas. The image of the ID badge also carries the words "Firebase Gecko," which was the name of a base used by the CIA and special forces in Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan, inside what was previously the compound of the Taliban’s founding leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar. CIA Director John Ratcliffe said Thursday the suspect had previously worked "with the U.S. Government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar.” Lt. Gen. Sami Sadat, a former commanding general of the Afghan National Special Operations Corps, told CBS News that Lakanwal worked for the "03" unit for eight years. A former senior Afghan general under the U.S.-backed government told CBS News on Thursday that "03 unit, also known as The Kandahar Strike Force (KSF), was under special forces directorate of NDS. They were the most active and professional forces, trained and equipped by the CIA. All their operations were conducted under the CIA command." Lakanwal was part of the unit’s operations team, Sadat said. "He was known for being responsible and professional within his team and had strong anti-Taliban views," Sadat said. "While we could not establish any connection between him and any terrorist organization, we also cannot completely rule it out," Sadat said. "However, we can confirm that his background does not show any links to terrorists.”

Daily Caller [11/30/2025 12:59 PM, Mark Tanos, 835K] reports the Department of Homeland Security flagged more than 5,000 Afghan migrants for national security concerns after they entered the United States through President Biden’s Operation Allies Welcome. DHS uncovered "potential derogatory information" on 6,868 individuals who arrived following the 2021 military withdrawal, according to the New York Post citing official documents. Of those, 5,005 raised national security red flags, 956 posed public safety concerns and 876 were flagged for fraud. As of September, 885 individuals with unresolved national security issues remained in the country. "I spent years calling attention to the weak vetting standards in Operation Allies Welcome, despite considerable pushback from the Biden administration and many of my colleagues in Congress," Republican Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley told the Post. "Sadly, this past week’s tragedy in Washington only validates my concerns further.”

Washington Examiner [11/30/2025 3:09 PM, Jenny Goldsberry, 1394K] reports Border czar Tom Homan stood by President Donald Trump’s recent announcement to pause migration from "third-world" countries. After an Afghan national allegedly opened fire on two National Guard soldiers in Washington, D.C., and subsequently killed Sara Beckstrom, 20, Trump announced he would pause migration from as many as 19 countries and deport foreign nationals "non-compatible with Western Civilization.” Homan said Afghan migrants, like the alleged gunman in the attack on the National Guard members, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, entered the United States without so much as "a travel document or piece of identification" on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures. "We’re going to count on the people that run Afghanistan, the Taliban, to provide us any information on who the bad guys were or who the good guys are? Certainly not. And many people need to understand that most terrorists in this world, most of them, aren’t in any database," Homan said. "There’s no way to vet these people. You think El Salvador or Turkey or Sudan, any of these countries have the databases and system checks that we have? Do you think the government of China, Russia, Turkey, do you think they’re going to share that data with us, even if they did have it? There’s no way to clearly vet these people 100% that they’re safe to come to this country from these third-world nations," Homan said.

FOX News [11/30/2025 3:00 PM, Taylor Penley, 40621K] reports Trump allies Alina Habba and Tom Homan blasted Biden-era immigration failures on Sunday, claiming they enabled the circumstances that led an Afghan national to allegedly shoot two West Virginia National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., last week. "This is a crime that should not have happened. It was avoidable, and that is why this administration is so focused on getting illegals out and [telling] people that were brought in that want to commit crime against Americans, ‘Get out of our country. We don’t want you here,’" Habba, acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey, said on "Sunday Morning Futures.” Habba assured that justice against 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who allegedly opened fire last Wednesday, killing 20-year-old National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom, and critically wounding 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe, will be "swift and heavy.” She also praised U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro for upgrading charges from assault to first-degree murder. "She will have no mercy as she should not on something like this," she told guest host Jackie DeAngelis. "This is an absolute failure of the prior administration, as we know, that has allowed open borders," Habba added. A representative for former President Joe Biden did not immediately return Fox News Digital’s request for comment. Lakanwal drove from Washington state to carry out an "ambush-style" attack with a .357-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver, according to the Associated Press. Trump border czar Tom Homan criticized immigration loopholes from the previous administration on "Sunday Morning Futures," suggesting that those shortcomings were largely to blame for the attack. "We had 10.5 million illegal aliens come to the border under Joe Biden, and that’s not counting the hundreds of thousands that came to the CHNV program, the CBP One app. It’s not counting the over 2 million known gotaways," he said.

FOX News [11/30/2025 1:22 PM, Staff, 40621K] Video: HERE reports Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., joins ‘The Sunday Briefing’ to discuss President Donald Trump’s closure of Venezuela airspace amid rising tensions and former President Biden’s defense of his Afghanistan withdrawal as national security concerns rise.

NPR [12/1/2025 5:00 AM, A Martínez, 34837K] reports NPR’s A Martinez speaks to Peter Bergen, the vice president of Global Studies and Fellows at liberal think tank New America and a security analyst, about the U.S. vetting process for Afghan nationals. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

NBC News [11/30/2025 9:50 AM, Megan Lebowitz and Alexandra Marquez, 34509K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that deportation operations are her decision and denied defying a court order to halt deportation flights to El Salvador earlier this year, attacking "radical decisions" from "activist judges.” Asked on NBC News’ "Meet the Press" whether she made the call to continue the flights, Noem referenced ongoing legal proceedings and said she would "let them continue to play through that process.” "The decisions that are made on deportations, where flights go and when they go, are my decision at the Department of Homeland Security, and we will continue to do the right thing and ensure that dangerous criminals are removed," Noem added. Asked whether she defied the court’s order, Noem said "no" and criticized "activist judges" and "radical decisions.” In a court filing last week, Justice Department officials said Noem was the Trump administration official who, earlier this year, did not comply with a federal judge’s order to stop the deportation of Venezuelan men whom the administration alleges are members of the Tren de Aragua gang to El Salvador. Last week’s filing referenced a March order by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to return the men to the United States and a subsequent order for the Trump administration to stop removing alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang from the U.S. under the Alien Enemies Act. The filing said that the orders were conveyed to the acting general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security, who then conveyed the order to Noem. Only after that did Noem decide that detainees under the AEA who had already been removed from the U.S. could continue their journey to El Salvador. The administration has also faced criticism for its handing of the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who was wrongfully deported to an El Salvador prison but later sent back to the U.S. Abrego’s lawyers have denied the administration’s allegation that he is a gang member.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [11/30/2025 10:48 AM, Sophia Vento, 12595K]

FOX News [11/30/2025 12:30 PM, Diana Stancy, 40621K] reports the Trump administration is taking an even firmer stance on immigration in the wake of a fatal shooting near the White House Wednesday, which took the life of one National Guard member and injured another. Additionally, the White House signaled it may ramp up its operations targeting alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean, following months of strikes against vessels accused of trafficking drugs into the U.S. The Trump administration is moving to impose more limitations on migrants attempting to enter the U.S., after an Afghan national was identified as the suspect in Wednesday’s deadly shooting. Law enforcement officials identified the shooting suspect as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, who entered the U.S. legally in 2021 under the Biden administration’s Operation Allies Welcome program, which aimed to facilitate resettling Afghan refugees in the U.S. The Department of State has paused all U.S. visas for individuals traveling on Afghan passports, the State Department and Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted to X Friday. U.S. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died Thursday due to injuries stemming from Wednesday’s shooting. U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe remains in critical condition as of Friday, per U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro. As a result of the shooting, Trump said in a social media post Thursday that he would permanently pause migration from "all Third World Countries." Likewise, the head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Joseph Edlow, said Thursday that in accordance with orders from Trump, he has "directed a full scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern." The White House did not provide additional information regarding which countries would be impacted, and referred Fox News Digital to Trump’s social media post. Trump also signaled that his administration would start conducting land operations as it ramps up its operations targeting alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean. Since September, the Trump administration has conducted more than 20 strikes against alleged drug boats in Latin American waters, and has beefed up its military presence in the Caribbean as part of Trump’s effort to crack down on the influx of drugs into the U.S. "You probably noticed that now people aren’t wanting to be delivering by sea, and we’ll be starting to stop them by land also," Trump said Thursday. "The land is easier, but that’s going to start very soon." The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital regarding whether the White House was considering land strikes or deploying U.S. troops within Venezuela. However, Trump has previously refused to rule out dispatching U.S. ground troops into Venezuela. New York Times reported Friday that Trump spoke with Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro in the past week. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CNN [11/30/2025 8:18 PM, Alessandra Freitas, Kit Maher, Stefano Pozzebon, 606K] reports Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro made his first public appearance in days on Sunday, putting to an end speculation within the country that he had fled amid escalating tensions with the US. Maduro, who usually appears on Venezuelan television multiple times a week, had not been seen in public since Wednesday – when he posted a video of himself driving around Caracas on his Telegram channel – leading to intense speculation as to his whereabouts. On Sunday, he appeared at an annual specialty-coffee awards event in eastern Caracas. In images that were broadcast online, the president sat before a crowd and handed out medals to coffee producers showcasing their top products. He sipped various coffees while delivering brief remarks – none of which openly addressed the current crisis in the country. At the end of the event, he chanted that Venezuela is "indestructible, untouchable, unbeatable" while speaking about the nation’s economy. The remarks appeared to be a nod to the tensions with the US, which has sent more than a dozen warships and deployed roughly 15,000 troops to the region as part of what it says is an effort to combat drug trafficking – but Caracas believes is an attempt to force Maduro from office. Maduro’s appearance at the coffee awards event came just moments after US President Donald Trump confirmed he had spoken with the Venezuelan leader on the phone. "I don’t want to comment on that – the answer is yes," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One when asked whether the call had taken place. "I wouldn’t say it went well or badly. It was a phone call.” New York Times and The Wall Street Journal have reported that Trump and Maduro spoke by phone earlier this month. Maduro and senior members of his government have not commented on the phone call with Trump. On Sunday, Jorge Rodríguez, who heads Venezuela’s National Assembly, declined to discuss the conversation, saying it was not the purpose of his press conference – which instead focused on announcing an inquiry into recent US maritime strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean that have killed more than 80 people. In recent days, the US president has increased the pressure on Maduro by warning that strikes on land against drug trafficking networks could be coming "very soon" and telling airlines, pilots and criminal networks to avoid Venezuelan airspace. However, speaking on Air Force One on Sunday, Trump told reporters his warning about Venezuelan airspace was not a signal that an airstrike is imminent. "Don’t read anything into it," the president said, adding he made the airspace warning "because we consider Venezuela to be not a very friendly country.”

Reported similarly:
Reuters [11/30/2025 6:39 PM, Idrees Ali, et al., 36480K]

New York Post [11/30/2025 5:41 PM, Anthony Blair, 42219K] reports more than 10 US warships, including the country’s largest carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, are bearing down on the Caribbean amid escalating tensions between President Trump and Venezuela. A Marine Expeditionary Unit capable of an amphibious land invasion has also been deployed as part of efforts to stem the flow of drugs into the US from the socialist country. "The military’s job is to defend the homeland," Secretary of the Navy John Phelan told Fox News on Saturday night. "That’s exactly what we’re doing, and we’re using our best assets to defend the homeland. "Drugs kill more Americans than we’ve ever lost in wars," he said. "So I think at the end of the day, the president has correctly identified this as an attack on the country, which it is.” Venezuela’s socialist president, Nicolas Maduro, is being blamed for allowing narco vessels to set off from his country for the US.

New York Times [11/30/2025 3:16 PM, By Julian E. Barnes and Helene Cooper, 153395K] reports President Trump warned airlines and pilots on Saturday that the airspace near Venezuela was closed, ratcheting up what his administration has characterized as a war against drug cartels. In a post on social media to “all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers,” the president wrote that the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela should be considered “CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.” Mr. Trump did not go into further detail in his post, but it came after he warned on Thursday night that the United States could “very soon” expand its attacks on boats thought to be carrying drugs in the waters off Venezuela to targets inside the country itself. The U.S. boat strikes have killed more than 80 people since early September. As president of the United States, Mr. Trump has no authority over Venezuelan airspace. But foreign governments and airlines often follow the United States’ lead. Earlier this month, a handful of foreign carriers had canceled flights to Venezuela after the Federal Aviation Administration issued a safety warning about the country. For now, several hundred flights from other countries into Venezuela remain scheduled for December, most of them operated by smaller airlines in the region, according to Cirium, an aviation data firm. The effect on air travel between the United States and Venezuela will probably be limited. There are no scheduled direct flights between the two countries, according to Cirium. Direct flights from the United States to other South American destinations generally avoid Venezuelan airspace.

FOX News [11/30/2025 7:51 PM, Greg Wehner, 40621K] reports President Donald Trump defended calling Venezuela’s airspace closed, saying the country is sending criminals into the U.S., but told reporters not to "read anything into it" when asked whether the warning suggested an imminent strike. While speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump said Venezuela is "not a very friendly country" and claimed it has sent criminals, gang members and drug traffickers into the U.S. On Saturday, Trump told airlines, pilots, drug dealers and human traffickers to "consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.” When asked Sunday if the warning meant an airstrike is imminent, Trump said: "Don’t read anything into it.” Trump also confirmed a report from New York Times that he spoke on the phone with President Nicolás Maduro, though he offered no details about the conversation. "I wouldn’t say it went well or badly," he said. "It was a phone call.” The president’s comments come amid rising tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela over Venezuela’s failure to stop drug traffickers from sending narcotics into the U.S. Since September, the Trump administration has conducted over 20 strikes against alleged drug boats in Latin American waters and beefed up its military presence in the Caribbean as part of Trump’s effort to crack down on the flow of drugs into the U.S. The strikes have brought the total number of suspected narco-terrorists eliminated to over 82, with three survivors. But as the U.S. continues to bolster forces in the waters off Venezuela, Maduro has called for peace but also remained defiant against what he called "imperialist aggression.” Maduro delivered an address in Caracas last week while brandishing a sword and warning supporters to prepare for confrontation, saying the U.S. will "very soon" begin stopping suspected Venezuelan drug traffickers on land. He appeared at a mass rally in the capital holding the sword of Simón Bolívar, the 19th-century independence leader regarded as the liberator of much of South America. Maduro told supporters the country was facing a decisive moment. The Associated Press reported that he said, "For anyone, whether civilian, politician, military, or police – Let no one make excuses. Failure is not an option. The homeland demands it! Our greatest effort and sacrifice. And with (Simón) Bolívar, I come to say that if the homeland demands it, the homeland will have our lives, if necessary," he declared while raising Bolívar’s sword. Maduro framed the situation as a struggle against what he described as external threats, urging Venezuelans to mobilize against any foreign aggression. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NewsMax [11/30/2025 5:29 PM, Eric Mack, 4109K] reports President Donald Trump rejected the claim that War Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered a second strike to kill survivors in a Caribbean drug-boat strike. "I don’t know that happened, and Pete said he did not even know what people were talking about," Trump told reporters Sunday night aboard Air Force One as he returned to Washington, D.C., after spending the Thanksgiving holiday at Florida’s Mar-a-Lago. "I wouldn’t have wanted a second strike. The first strike was very lethal. It was fine.” The comments — first flagged in a post on X with White House media-scrum audio — underscored Trump’s defense of the War Department’s Operation Southern Spear strikes on drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean. Congressional leaders from both parties have called for oversight, saying follow-up strikes on incapacitated individuals could amount to war crimes if survivors posed no threat.

The Washington Post [11/30/2025 8:33 PM, Mariana Alfaro, Alex Horton, and Noah Robertson, 24149K] reports President Donald Trump said Sunday that he has “great confidence” that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did not give a spoken order to kill all crew members aboard a vessel suspected of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea in September. Trump said Hegseth told him “he did not say that, and I believe him, 100 percent.” During an attack on a boat on Sept. 2 — the opening salvo in the Trump administration’s war on suspected drug traffickers in the Western Hemisphere — a live drone feed showed two survivors from an original crew of 11 clinging to the wreckage of their boat after an initial missile attack, The Washington Post reported Friday afternoon. To comply with a spoken order from Hegseth to kill everyone, the Special Operations commander overseeing the mission ordered a second strike that killed the two survivors, according to two people with direct knowledge of the operation. Those people, along with five others in the original report, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity. Trump said he would look into the issue. “I wouldn’t have wanted that. Not a second strike. The first strike was very lethal. It was fine,” the president told reporters. After the publication of The Post’s report, Hegseth wrote on X that “these highly effective strikes are designed to be ‘lethal, kinetic strikes,’” adding: “Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.” He claimed that the military operations in the Caribbean are “lawful” and denounced “the fake news.” On Sunday, the president also said he has “very little” concern over the way the United States is handling the boat strikes in the Caribbean. The U.S. military, he said, is doing an “amazing job.” FOX News [11/30/2025 10:15 PM, Greg Wehner, 40621K] reports that reporters asked Trump whether he would have approved a second strike if Hegseth had ordered one, prompting him to again distance himself from the allegation while stressing that he trusted his secretary of war. Trump said he planned to seek additional information about the reported incident but reiterated that Hegseth assured him nothing improper happened. "No, I wouldn’t have wanted that. Not a second strike," Trump said. Still, he praised the wider campaign targeting drug-smuggling boats, saying the strikes had sharply reduced the flow of narcotics into the U.S. by sea in recent months. Trump argued the vessels posed a deadly threat and framed the operations as necessary to protect Americans, calling the missions lethal but justified. "You can see the boats," he said. "You can see the drugs in the boats and each boat is responsible for killing 25,000 Americans.” Trump went to Hegseth’s defense after reports from outlets such as Washington Post and CNN claimed the U.S. military ordered a second strike on a suspected drug vessel in the Caribbean on Sept. 2 after the earlier attack left two survivors. According to Washington Post, the commander overseeing that operation told colleagues on a secure conference call that the survivors were legitimate targets because they could still contact other traffickers for help and ordered the second strike to comply with what he said was a directive from Hegseth that everyone must be killed. "As usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland," Hegseth wrote on X on Friday. "As we’ve said from the beginning and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically intended to be ‘lethal, kinetic strikes,’" Hegseth continued. "The declared intent is to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats and kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people. Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reuters [11/30/2025 3:30 PM, Staff, 36480K] reports Venezuela’s National Assembly will form a special commission to investigate U.S. President Donald Trump’s deadly strikes on suspected drug trafficking boats off the Venezuelan coast and in the eastern Pacific Ocean, the congressional body’s president said on Sunday. Speaking on state television, Jorge Rodriguez said the investigation would look into a Washington Post, opens new tab report on Friday that said U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered all people aboard one of the boats killed during a strike in September. A second strike was then carried out to kill two survivors, the report said. "We are going to carry out a rigorous and deep investigation," Rodriguez told a press conference, adding that the country’s prosecutor’s office would be involved. The U.S. for months has waged a campaign of deadly strikes against suspected drug trafficking boats in the region. Maduro and his government have denied any involvement in crime and have accused the U.S. of seeking regime change out of a desire to control Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.

Wall Street Journal [11/30/2025 6:47 PM, Michelle Hackman, 646K] reports Congress launched inquiries and lawmakers from both parties raised the possibility of war crimes after a report that the U.S. targeted survivors of a strike on an alleged drug boat. The Republican-led armed-services committees in the House and Senate said this weekend they are opening bipartisan inquiries, after the Washington Post reported on a Sept. 2 attack on a boat in the Caribbean. In that attack, the Post said, a second strike was ordered to kill two survivors in the water. The Wall Street Journal hasn’t independently confirmed the Washington Post report. Several lawmakers on Sunday stressed that they didn’t know what happened, but said that the incident as described was concerning. Rep. Don Bacon (R., Neb.), who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, said in an interview on ABC that if the strike occurred as the article said, “that is a violation of the law of war. When people want to surrender, you don’t kill them, and they have to pose an imminent threat. It’s hard to believe that two people on a raft, trying to survive, would pose an imminent threat.” Rep. Mike Turner (R., Ohio), a former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, also raised concerns. “Obviously if that occurred, that would be very serious, and I agree that would be an illegal act,” he said Sunday on CBS. And Sen. Tim Kaine (D., Va.), who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the actions rise “to the level of a war crime if it’s true.” The Pentagon declined to comment Sunday on the lawmakers’ concerns.

Axios [11/30/2025 10:46 AM, Andrew Childers, 12972K] reports Trump allies Sunday pushed back on a Washington Post report that alleges Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered additional strikes on survivors of attacks on suspected drug trafficking boats from Venezuela. Legal experts have warned that the attacks could be illegal as the Trump administration ramps up its military presence around Venezuela, placing pressure on President Nicolás Maduro. The Washington Post reported Friday that Hegseth in September ordered a second strike to kill any survivors of a boat hit off the coast of Venezuela. Hegseth on X dismissed the reporting as "fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory." CNN also reported on the alleged order Saturday. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) dismissed the reporting as anonymous and unproven on CNN’s State of the Union. "I don’t know if I believe that at all," he said. Mullin said the Navy and Coast Guard have rescued and returned survivors from other strikes. President Trump is "protecting the Unites States by being proactive," Mullin said. "I don’t think [Hegseth] would be foolish enough to make this decision to say, ‘Kill everybody. Kill the survivors.’ Because that’s a clear violation of the law of war," Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), a retired Air Force general, said on ABC’s This Week. "I’m very suspicious that he would have done something like that because it would go against common sense." Attorney General Pam Bondi declined to discuss releasing an Office of Legal Council memo that provides legal justification for the attacks when asked about it on Fox News Sunday.

CNN [11/30/2025 7:31 PM, Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, 606K] reports lawmakers from both sides of the aisle voiced serious concerns over the weekend over reports on a follow-up strike that killed survivors on an alleged drug vessel in the Caribbean, as the Senate and House armed services panels pledged to conduct "vigorous oversight.” Rep. Mike Turner, an Ohio Republican who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, said the follow-up strike was "completely outside of anything that has been discussed with Congress" about the Trump administration’s strikes on alleged drug vessels in the Caribbean. "Obviously, if that occurred, that would be very serious, and I agree that that would be an illegal act," he said on CBS’ "Face the Nation.” Sources familiar with the matter previously told CNN that the military carried out a follow-up strike on a suspected drug vessel operating in the Caribbean on September 2 after an initial attack did not kill everyone on board. Before the operation, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the military to ensure the strike killed everyone on board, but it’s not clear whether he knew there were survivors before the second strike, one of the sources said. Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, told CBS that the attack "rises to the level of a war crime if it’s true.” Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, who has been a target of the Trump administration’s ire for participating in a video reminding service members of their duty to disobey illegal orders, said Sunday that the strike could possibly be a war crime. "It seems to," Kelly, a former fighter pilot who served in the Navy for 25 years, told CNN’s Dana Bash. "If what has been reported is accurate, I’ve got serious concerns about anybody in that … chain of command stepping over a line that they should never step over," Kelly said on "State of the Union.” The comments come after the Republican-led Senate and House armed services committees said pledged oversight on the follow-up strike. The Senate Armed Service Committee’s Republican chair, Sen. Roger Wicker, and top Democrat, Sen. Jack Reed, said in a statement late Friday they "will be conducting vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to these circumstances.” They were followed by their counterparts in the House, Reps. Mike Rogers and Adam Smith, who said Saturday they are "taking bipartisan action to gather a full accounting" of the strike.

Washington Examiner [11/30/2025 5:49 PM, Zach LaChance, 1394K] reports lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are sounding the alarm about War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s first drug boat strike after he reportedly ordered the U.S. military to kill two survivors from it. The Washington Post reported that a Sept. 2 strike on an alleged drug vessel left two survivors clinging to the wrecked boat, leading to Hegseth ordering a follow-up strike and telling a commander to "kill everybody" still alive. The Department of War and Hegseth himself have denied the story, calling it "fabricated." But the report has led to scrutiny of the tactic the Pentagon has used for months to crack down on drug trafficking. On Saturday, it caught the attention of the House and Senate Armed Services committees, with leadership from both vowing "vigorous oversight" of the drug boat strikes. It only continued on Sunday, with multiple Democratic senators and Republican congressman suggesting if the report is true, Hegseth may have committed a war crime. "If that reporting is true, it’s a clear violation of the DOD’s own laws of war, as well as international laws about the way you treat people who are in that circumstance. And so this rises to the level of a war crime if it’s true," Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) said on CBS News’s Face the Nation. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) echoed Kaine’s concerns in an appearance on ABC News’s This Week. "I think it’s very possible there was a war crime committed," he said, before adding that the designation hinges on the Trump administration’s declaration that the United States is an "armed conflict" with drug cartels. "And so I do believe that the secretary of defense should be held accountable for giving those kinds of orders.”

Washington Examiner [11/30/2025 12:31 PM, Molly Parks, 1394K] reports Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) sharply criticized War Secretary Pete Hegseth following reports of an alleged verbal follow-up strike order he gave in September to "kill everybody" after the first strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat left survivors in the water. Kelly, a Navy veteran and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, appeared on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday morning after the committee announced a "vigorous oversight" investigation into the reported order from Hegseth. In response to a question from CNN’s Dana Bash over whether or not a second strike to eliminate any survivors "constitutes a war crime," Kelly responded, "It seems to.” "If that is true, if what has been reported is accurate, I’ve got serious concerns about anybody in that chain of command stepping over a line that they should never step over. We are not Russia, we’re not Iraq. We hold ourselves to a very high standard of professionalism," Kelly said of a Washington Post report that Hegseth gave the alleged follow-up "kill everybody" order after the first Sept. 2 strike left two survivors hanging on to the suspected drug-trafficking boat. Hegseth and the War Department have denied the reports as "fake news," calling them "fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory.” "As we’ve said from the beginning, and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically intended to be ‘lethal, kinetic strikes.’ The declared intent is to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people. Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization," Hegseth wrote on X. Kelly himself has been under scrutiny after he and five other Democratic lawmakers made a video to urge U.S. servicemembers to refuse unspecified illegal orders. The past couple of weeks have been tumultuous for Kelly after President Donald Trump suggested the video was "seditious" and "punishable by death," and Hegseth ordered an investigation into Kelly’s comments in the video. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), also of the Senate Armed Services Committee, appeared on the Sunday show after Kelly and questioned the validity of the report, which recounted information from anonymous sources familiar with the operation. "I don’t think this story is accurate," Mullin said of the report. "I don’t know if I believe that at all because we’re doing alleged sources, nothing has been verified by this. We do know that a survivor that did survive in later attacks was picked up by the United States Coast Guard or Navy, I’m not for sure, and was sent back to his country. You guys reported on that. So I doubt, very seriously, that took place," Mullin said. Mullin was referring to an October strike in which two alleged narcoterrorists survived and were repatriated by the U.S. military to Colombia and Ecuador for prosecution.

FOX News [11/30/2025 11:30 AM, Max Bacall, 40621K] reports America is under attack by drug cartels, according to Secretary of the Navy John Phelan, and the U.S. military’s Operation Southern Spear aims to defend the country from the flood of narcotics. "Drugs kill more Americans than we’ve ever lost in wars. So I think at the end of the day, the president has correctly identified this as an attack on the country, which it is," Phelan said on "My View with Lara Trump" Saturday night. Phelan described the firepower behind Operation Southern Spear, which includes the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, "which has nine carrier air wings, so over 70 aircraft... And then there are 11 ships there as well. And there’s also the Marines." The effort is also supported by the Coast Guard and the Department of Homeland Security. It coincides with a push to modernize America’s military through technology such as artificial intelligence, hypersonics and unmanned systems, along with a renewed shipbuilding drive led by President Donald Trump. "The president is very focused on shipbuilding. He has been on me about it for a long time, and continues to stay after me, which is great, because he’s committed to it and it’s really important," Phelan said. "We hollowed out our manufacturing base in this country. And it’s really important that we learn how to make things." The Navy secretary continued, "We spent the last 10 years teaching people how to code. We’re gonna spend the next 10 years teaching how to use their hands, because those are going to be the important skills." "And I’m hoping we’re gonna open up some new yards in addition to expanding existing yards. We think we’re gonna need, you know, north of 50,000 new workers in the shipbuilding industry to get going." When asked what he made of critics who argued that the deployment was overkill or a misappropriation of naval resources, Phelan pointed to the collaborative nature of the initiative and to the military’s central purpose. "The military’s job is to defend the homeland... that’s exactly what we’re doing, and we’re using our best assets to defend the homeland," he said. China’s presence in the region is another reason to project American power, Phelan said, acknowledging heavy Chinese naval investment. "In fact, they have more ships than our U.S. Navy. And a lot of people talk about that, but I’m not sure that’s the appropriate metric [of naval power]. We kind of look at tonnage and capability, so it’s a little bit different," Phelan said. "But I think China desires to be the world power. And they are a peer competitor with us. And I think having planes like this that we’re surrounded by, carriers like the Ford and our destroyers, our Arleigh Burke destroyers, those are ways of projecting American power and keeping America safe."

NewsMax [11/30/2025 10:40 AM, Staff, 4109K] reports President Donald Trump’s aggressive new push against drug trafficking has opened the door to an unexpected boom for America’s defense-tech sector, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. As the administration expands its counter-narcotics mission across the Caribbean, Latin America, and the southern U.S. border, tech firms that once struggled to break into the Pentagon’s long-term planning now find themselves in high demand, according to the report. Companies developing drones, AI-driven surveillance tools, counterdrone technology, and next-generation sensors — many originally built for potential conflict with China or tested in Ukraine — have swiftly repositioned themselves as key players in Trump’s widening campaign against drug cartels. The U.S. Coast Guard and Navy are leaning heavily on advanced drones and imaging platforms to locate narco-vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. Some AI companies — stretching from Silicon Valley to Dubai — have marketing tools that can map fentanyl networks, track encrypted communications, and flag suspicious shipping movements. On the southern border, a Ukrainian-made counterdrone system used on European battlefields is being adapted to intercept cartel-operated drones coming out of Mexico. The shift reflects a broader strategic realignment. While Washington continues to view China as a long-term competitor, Trump’s national-security agenda has pivoted sharply toward hemispheric defense and what the administration calls a fight against narco-terror. The military campaign escalated dramatically in September when U.S. forces began striking small drug-trafficking boats — operations that have reportedly killed more than 80 people. Palantir CEO Alex Karp told the Journal he supports the operations, calling fentanyl a "scourge on the working class" and saying he would be "very proud" if Palantir were involved. Shield AI, a U.S. drone company formed during the post-9/11 wars, is at the center of Coast Guard interdiction missions. Its V-BAT drone — capable of flying more than 1,000 nautical miles — has helped seize over $1 billion in narcotics this year alone. The Coast Guard plans to deploy V-BATs on cutters and along the southern border. The president’s recent defense bill supercharged this trend, pumping an additional $165 billion into homeland security over the next decade and expanding border-security technology. The Pentagon also received $1 billion specifically for anti-drug and border missions. U.S. Southern Command, traditionally stretched thin by humanitarian duties, now fields a dozen ships, aircraft, and drones in the region. Defense startups see the area as a prime proving ground — far easier than navigating the electronic-warfare-intense skies over Ukraine or preparing for a hypothetical conflict with China. Foreign companies are joining the surge as well. Firms like RAKIA Group and Ukrainian-founded Moodro are pushing AI and counterdrone platforms to capitalize on Washington’s shift. As one national-security analyst told the Journal, the incentives are clear: "There’s a lot of money to be made.”

New York Post [11/30/2025 4:55 PM, Ryan King, 42219K] reports the US is already fighting a war against Venezuela — in the form of drug traffickers and narco-terrorists, whose poisons kill more Americans in a year than died in Vietnam, Sen. Dave McCormick warned on Sunday. McCormick (R-Pa.) underscored the thousands of American deaths from drug traffickers while defending President Trump’s declaration Saturday that Venezuela airspace is closed — as ramped up pressure om the regime. "We have a war that’s coming through fentanyl, through opioids, through cocaine. It killed 100,000 Americans last year. That’s twice the number of people that died in eight years of Vietnam — 4,000 Pennsylvanians," he told "Fox News Sunday.” "When President Trump was running, he and I both campaigned on the same thing, which was [to] secure the border, designate the cartels as narco-terrorists, and use our military in a strategic-focused way to destroy this cartel infrastructure," McCormick added.

Washington Post [11/30/2025 3:14 PM, Samantha Schmidt, 24149K] reports just days before a tense presidential election in Honduras, President Donald Trump threw himself into the center of the race. Trump not only pledged his support for the conservative candidate in Sunday’s vote — drawing criticism that he was interfering in another country’s election — he also said he plans to pardon a former Honduran president — a convicted drug trafficker who was sentenced last year to 45 years in a U.S. federal prison for smuggling hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States and turning his country into a “narco state.” Trump’s pledge to pardon Juan Orlando Hernández, who served as president of Honduras from 2014 to 2022 and was accused by U.S. prosecutors of having “paved a cocaine superhighway to the United States,” appeared to contradict the stated goals of his administration’s military campaign to attack drug traffickers in waters near Latin America and end the flow of drugs. More than 80 people have been killed so far in strikes and the operation has raised fears of an imminent attack on Venezuela. “It’s an abomination,” said a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent who worked on the Hernández case and spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak freely about a sensitive case. “Ludicrous to even consider, much less actually go through with.” In Honduras, Trump’s endorsement of the conservative candidate Nasry Asfura, and his pledge to pardon Hernández, an Asfura ally, has injected the U.S. into a tight, potentially volatile presidential election. It marked Trump’s latest move to back ideological allies in Latin America; in October, he offered a $40 billion bailout package to Argentina in an effort to boost President Javier Milei’s party in legislative elections.

Los Angeles Times [11/30/2025 5:44 PM, Christopher Sherman and Marlon González, 14862K] reports Hondurans voted Sunday to elect a new president only days after President Trump intervened in a close race with an endorsement of one candidate and announced that he would pardon a former Honduran president convicted of trafficking cocaine into the United States. At a voting site in the capital, the country’s major parties were represented outside with tables, banners, flags and music. Several dozen people lined up outside the gate to the neighborhood school and were allowed in about 30 minutes after the official start of voting. In addition to a new president, voters will elect a new Congress, as well as hundreds of local positions. Among the five presidential candidates on the ballot, polls indicated three had a chance to win and were finishing in close competition. Moncada promises to "democratize" an economy still defined by extreme wealth and poverty. Nasralla casts himself as the outsider who can clean up the country’s endemic corruption. And Asfura is trying to restore the National Party as a pro-business force tarnished by previous bouts of presidential corruption. Asfura himself has been accused of embezzling public funds in the past, allegations that he denies. Honduras’ security situation has improved in recent years as homicides across the region continue to fall, but it still has Central America’s highest homicide rate. Hondurans say security and jobs remain their top priorities, despite an economy that has strengthened during Castro’s administration. The presidential contest had mostly focused on candidates trading accusations of vote manipulation until last week when Trump endorsed Asfura while attacking his opponents, the latest signal of the Trump administration’s renewed focus on Latin America. Trump threatened to withhold U.S. aid if Asfura doesn’t win. Trump shocked Hondurans and many other observers by announcing Friday that he would pardon ex-President Juan Orlando Hernández, who is serving a 45-year sentence in a U.S. prison for helping drug traffickers moving cocaine to the United States. It was unclear what influence Trump’s move would have on the election, but it was the latest show of the U.S. government’s willingness to involve itself in the region and came at a time of already heightened tensions because of the U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean and Trump’s threats against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Trump has said the U.S. military campaign in the Caribbean is an anti-narcotics effort, making his announcement of a pardon for a convicted drug trafficker all the more startling.

Washington Post [11/30/2025 2:05 PM, Ishaan Tharoor, 24149K] reports in President Donald Trump’s first term, we got used to hearing “dog whistles.” Trump’s populist nationalism was riven through by messaging that implicitly demonized minorities and migrants. Undocumented arrivals were “rapists,” inner city youths were “rabid” animals, neo-Nazi marches included “very fine people,” and some countries were simply, in Trump’s derogatory parlance, places teeming with excrement. The president brought into the mainstream a style of rhetoric brimming with contempt that had previously been kept at bay on the fringes of U.S. political life. In Trump’s second term, the margins are now the center and the dog whistle has been replaced by a blowhorn. As his administration steps up a sweeping campaign of mass detention and deportations, Trump and his allies routinely cast certain populations of migrants as belonging to cultures incompatible with the United States. Amid a world of asylum seekers, his administration explicitly prioritizes resettling White Afrikaner refugees from South Africa while blocking other refugees. And it has been more overt in its desire not just to expel those illegally living in the U.S. but curtail legal paths into the country. The latest indication of Trump’s hard-line views and approach came in the wake of the shooting of two National Guard members near the White House on Wednesday. The ambush, which has led to the death of at least one of the victims, was allegedly carried out by Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who had worked alongside U.S. forces in his country and came to the United States in the aftermath of the collapse of the U.S.-backed government in Kabul. My colleagues’ reporting found that Lakanwal was a member of CIA-backed “Zero Units” that conducted counterterror raids in various parts of Afghanistan, sometimes amid allegations of abuse and violence toward Afghan civilians. The long tail of American wars abroad, marked by trauma and tragedy, brought the suspect to the U.S., but Trump seized on the incident as proof of the “social dysfunction” caused by immigrants writ large and the need to “permanently pause migration” from poorer nations. (U.S. authorities have stopped processing all asylum applications and paused visas for Afghan nationals for the time being.) Then, Trump deployed a conspicuous term: “Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation,” he wrote in his Thanksgiving greeting post on social media. The phrasing surfaced elsewhere. “The stakes have never been higher, and the goal has never been more clear: Remigration now,” declared the X account of the Department of Homeland Security. DHS has issued earlier calls for remigration. The White House floated creating an office of “remigration” at the State Department while it dismantled existing programs to aid refugees. The implication is not simply that undocumented migrants must be deported, but that, more broadly, American society can be saved only by the departure of certain migrants, illegal or not. “Remigration” has been invoked by Trump and his allies since the launching of his successful bid to return to office in 2024. The term is not a neutral one. It probably entered Trump’s orbit via the politics of ascendant far-right parties in Germany and Austria, where politicians and activists campaigned aggressively on a platform to deport asylum seekers and encourage the emigration of non-European or Christian communities. In some instances, the far-right AfD party, which is Germany’s second largest party in parliament, distributed mock one-way airplane tickets, touting its ambitions for mass deportations. The “remigration” debate in Germany is a charged one, not least because of the legacy of the Holocaust and the mass deportations that prefigured the genocidal slaughter of Jews. The concept has its roots among French “identitarians” and sits adjacent to the “great replacement” theory — a conspiratorial fantasy-turned-commonplace talking point that suggests White populations in Western societies are being “replaced” by non-White migration championed by establishment liberals.

NBC’s Meet the Press [11/30/2025 1:11 PM, Staff, 10K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says that Rahmanullah Lakanwal was welcomed into the U.S. through a program called Operation Allies Welcome and she will use every tool at her disposal to bring him to bring him to justice and make him pay for what he has done not just to America but how he’s devastated these families and taken the lives. When asked about a potential motive from Lakanwal attack Madam Secretary had this to say, "We’re still going through all of that information, and I’ll let the FBI and DOJ reveal new information. But I will say we believe he was radicalized since he’s been here in this country. We do believe it was through connections in his home community and state, and we’re going to continue to talk to those who interacted with him, who were his family members, who talk to them. So far we’ve had some participation. But anyone who has information on this needs to know that we will be coming after you, and we will bring you to justice."

NBC’s Meet the Press [11/30/2025 1:11 PM, Staff, 10K] reports the director of Citizenship and Immigration Services posted Friday that the agency, quote, "has halted all asylum decisions until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible." For people fleeing violence and persecution, who were hoping for protection here in the United States, is the United States now closed to them officially? Madam Secretary Noem says there will be new standards put in place to ensure that people applying are here for that purpose. The question to ask is, when will asylum process start again? Noem says when the massive backlog left by the Biden administration is taken care of. "One of the things that nobody’s talked about yet is that Joe Biden left us with a backlog of 1.5 million asylum cases. They allowed so many people to abuse that program that they didn’t even process the paperwork. So people who maybe, as you would say, could’ve credibly claimed this, they weren’t even getting processed for years and years because they were allowing it to be abused in such a way." Noem states.

ABC’s This Week With George Stephanopoulos [11/30/2025 11:16 AM, Staff, 1824K] reports people are wondering what the DC shooters motive was for shooting at the National Guardsman. Why did Rahmanullah Lakanwal need to drive across country to shoot at Guardsmen? "Well, the investigation is still ongoing and we’re allowing our partnership with the FBI and DOJ to continue to reveal all of the sources of motivation. But we do believe this individual when they came into the country, we know he was unvetted. He was brought into the country by the Biden administration through Operation Allies Welcome, and then maybe vetted after that but not done well based on what the guidelines were put forward by President Biden. And now since he’s been here, we believe he could have been radicalized in his home community and in his home state. So, as we continue to talk to his family and his contacts, more details will be revealed, and we’ll release those when it’s appropriate. But this is something that for these individuals when they’re brought into our country, it’s a dangerous situation." Noem states.

ABC’s This Week With George Stephanopoulos [11/30/2025 11:16 AM, Staff, 1824K] reports Noem has repeated said effectively, that this shooting was the fault of the Biden administration, even as it was the Trump administration that granted the shooter asylum. Democrat Senator Chris Van Hollen shares his thoughts. "Well, Jon, first, I join you in saluting the service and sacrifice of the National Guard members who were killed and all of them. This is a desperate attempt of the Trump administration to blame everybody else in the world and not accept any accountability. As you pointed out in your interview with the secretary, it was the Trump administration that was last in time when it came to vetting. And I can tell you that they come before Capitol Hill, secretary of Homeland Security, FBI director, and they tell us how they have improved the vetting processes, and now they are trying to blame everything on the Biden administration. This is a president who refuses to take accountability for anything."

FOX News Sunday [11/30/2025 11:16 AM, Staff] reports Attorney General Pam Bondi discusses the attack on two National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., and growing calls in Congress for oversight of strikes on alleged drug boats on ‘Fox News Sunday.’

FOX News Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo [11/30/2025 11:16 AM, Staff] reports Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., discusses immigration reform in Congress, efforts to combat drug cartels in Latin America and more on ‘Sunday Morning Futures.’

FOX News Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo [11/30/2025 11:16 AM, Staff] reports White House border czar Tom Homan joins ‘Sunday Morning Futures’ to weigh in on the D.C. National Guard shooting, vetting concerns and President Donald Trump’s immigration policy changes.

FOX News Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo [11/30/2025 11:16 AM, Staff] reports Acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba joins ‘Sunday Morning Futures’ to discuss the DOJ’s push for the death penalty against the suspect accused of shooting two National Guardsmen, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, his former ties to the CIA and more.

CNN’s State of the Union With Jake Tapper and Dana Bash [11/30/2025 12:01 PM, Staff, 465K] reports President Trump has said he wants to reexamine the status of people who are in this country legally, which may include naturalized citizens, blocking migration from "Third World countries," pausing all asylum decisions from any country, and calling for "reverse migration." Democratic Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona says that this is consistent with what has been seen from the President to date, rounding up people in their community. "He said he was going to go after drug dealers, gang members, criminals. What we have seen so far is a little bit of that and a lot of just breaking up communities, going after people like Kelly Yu, who is in an ICE detention center in Phoenix, who I visited, who is a business owner. She’s got 70 employees." Kelly comments. The Trump administration says the man accused of the shootings of the two National Guard members wasn’t vetted. CNN is told that that’s not true. There were multiple rounds of extensive vetting. But, all told, there are about 190,000 Afghans in the United States who were allowed to come after the military withdrawal. How confident in the vetting process was Senator Kelly, he had this to say, "Well, I think what happened to Andrew Wolfe and Sarah Beckstrom, horrific. She died. I’m praying for her family. I’m praying for him to recover from his injuries. It is a really horrible thing. There needs to be an investigation and find out, why did this guy do this? Was he radicalized in Afghanistan or here in the United States? And if it makes sense to change some things, I think we need to do that. I used to have a commanding officer in the Navy that used to say, if you’re not changing something, it’s getting worse."

CNN’s State of the Union With Jake Tapper and Dana Bash [11/30/2025 12:01 PM, Staff, 465K] reports in September the U.S. military struck its first ship that the administration say was carrying drugs. Sources tell CNN, after the missile struck the boat, there were survivors and that a second strike was launched to kill anyone who was left. Secretary Pete Hegseth is defending the move, saying it is lawful under both U.S. and international law. Kelly says he hopes that what’s being reported isn’t true and that it would be very disturbing. He gone to say that there needs to be an inspector general investigation. "Pete Hegseth, who is totally unqualified to be secretary of defense, he fired a bunch of the I.G.s within the department. That makes this more challenging. I don’t have a lot of confidence that he’s going to investigate that. That’s why, in the Armed Services Committee in the Senate and the House, we’re going to have hearings. We will have public hearings. We will put people under oath. We need to get to the bottom of this. Hey, the U.S. military is the most powerful and effective military in the world. And we have got to be precise, and we have to be operating in accordance with U.S. law and international law always." Kelly states.

NBC’s Meet the Press [11/30/2025 12:23 PM, Staff] reports Secretary Noem defend President Trump’s decision to, "permanently pause migration from all third-world countries." Democratic Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona says the administration doesn’t want brown people coming into the U.S. "When I heard the secretary say that they’re going to pause immigration from third-world countries, I mean, I take that as a message that they don’t want brown people coming to the United States. And I find that disturbing. We are a country that has always welcomed individuals that are struggling, that are fleeing famine and violence. And it would be a fundamental change to the fabric of our nation to change that." comments.

CNN’s State of the Union With Jake Tapper and Dana Bash [11/30/2025 12:01 PM, Staff, 465K] reports President Trump declared that the airspace above and around Venezuela should be considered closed just days after threatening land action in the country "very soon." Venezuelan officials were quick to push back, calling President Trump’s comments a "colonialist threat that constitutes an extravagant, illegal and unjustified aggression against the people of Venezuela." The question on the mind is, does President Trump have plans to attack Venezuela? Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma says that Trump has been clear that troops were not going to be put into Venezuela. "We have made it very clear to Maduro and to the Venezuelan people, which they’re not the ones doing this -- it’s Maduro that’s doing this -- that we’re not going to allow them to continue to use Venezuela as a terrorist country to ship in tons of drugs into the United States and continue to kill our brothers or sisters, our friends and family on the streets of the United States. And so President Trump has tried to do this through closing down international water. They continue to ship drugs out. Now they’re starting to fly them into the United States through tail numbers that are being disguised as either commercial flights or private flights. And so the president’s made it very clear he’s shutting down the airspace. And, by the way, we gave Maduro an opportunity to leave. We said he could leave and go to Russia or he could go to another country. And the Venezuelan people themselves have also spoken up and said they want a new leader and restore Venezuela as the country." Mullin stated.

CNN’s State of the Union With Jake Tapper and Dana Bash [11/30/2025 12:01 PM, Staff, 465K] reports September the U.S. military struck its first ship that the administration say was carrying drugs. Sources tell CNN, after the missile struck the boat, there were survivors and that a second strike was launched to kill anyone who was left. These individuals were apparently unarmed, already injured from the original attack, Mullin is asked if he’s comfortable with this knowledge. " I don’t know if I believe that at all, because we’re doing alleged sources. Nothing has been verified by this. We do know that a survivor that did survive in later attacks was picked up by the United States Coast Guard or Navy, I’m not for sure, and was sent back to his country. You guys reported on that. So I doubt very seriously that took place. And unless there was more to the story, that the boat was enabled again and they were trying to run again, I don’t know, but I don’t think this story is accurate. And we keep talking about something that’s alleged. It’s alleged. Nothing’s been proven at all about this. No one’s come out and said it was accurate. It’s just somebody by alleged source that anybody can name or make up that this supposedly took place." Mullin states.

CNN’s State of the Union With Jake Tapper and Dana Bash [11/30/2025 12:01 PM, Staff, 465K] reports as President Trump ramped up his crackdown on immigration, he made this claim on TRUTH Social "Hundreds of thousands of refugees from Somalia are completely taking over the once great state of Minnesota. Somalian gangs are roving the streets looking for prey, as our wonderful people stay locked in their apartments and houses, hoping against hope that they will be left alone." Does Minnesota have a problem with gangs roving the streets? "Every state has a problem with crime. But what the president has done here is taken a horrific crime that occurred in Washington, D.C., where one beloved Guard member is still struggling for his life, another was shot and killed, and the perpetrator, the murderer, is behind bars and being prosecuted. He took that case, and then he went 2,400 miles away to Somalia and somehow indicted an entire group of people, 80,000 of them in my state, as well as later all naturalized citizens, 24 million people in the United States of America. This is what he does. And he tries to stoke division and make people hate each other. And here are the facts. In the state of Minnesota, you have a state, which he also condemned our entire state, is in the top five for Fortune 500 companies per capita in the country. It is a state with one of the best rates for unemployment, which, of course, we have been battled by the -- battered by the Trump tariffs and the like, but, in fact, we have a strong economy in our state, and our state has a good health care system, which we’re also struggling with because Donald Trump won’t do anything to help the people of this country." Klobuchar states.

Univision [11/30/2025 1:14 PM, Staff, 5004K] reports a total of 15 protesters were arrested Saturday in Lower Manhattan after a protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that ended in standoff with New York Police Department (NYPD) agents. The incident occurred around noon over the intersection of Centre Street and Howard Street in Chinatown, an area that in recent weeks has been the scene of federal operations related to the illegal sale of merchandise on Canal Street. According to the NYPD, agents responded after receiving reports about a group that obstructed streets, exits and accesses to a parking lot that was used by federal agents, blocking the passage and interfering with the movement of official vehicles. The protesters carried banners in rejection of the deportations and chanted slogans against the presence of ICE in the city. Police issued several orders to clear the area, but some participants refused to move, that’s when the arrests began.

New York Post [11/30/2025 6:45 PM, David DeTurris, Larry Celona, and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon, 42219K] reports Anti-ICE activists vowed Sunday to continue protesting federal immigration raids in the Big Apple — and refused to apologize for a violent clash with the NYPD at a Lower Manhattan demonstration. The proclamation came just one day after the protest against US Immigration & Customs Enforcement agents got out of hand, with cops caught in the middle — and protesters now vowing to keep doing it. "We do not apologize for standing up," city Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said at a press conference with members of the New York Immigration Coalition, one day after more than 150 protesters battled with cops outside an ICE deployment center. "We’ll do it every single time," Williams vowed. Police said Sunday that "multiple individuals were taken into custody" at the out-of-control demonstration outside the US General Services Administration building on Centre Street before noon Saturday that saw police officers called in, only to be bombarded with trash and debris. Cops would not provide more details nor reveal how many were charged, but said cops repeatedly warned the mob to move along, leading to confrontations between the two sides when they refused. Sources said at least 18 of the demonstrators were charged. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [11/30/2025 1:07 PM, Charles Creitz, 40621K] reports New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick made waves earlier this week when she stated illegal immigration by foreign nationals in the U.S. is a "civil issue" and that therefore her agency will not enforce certain immigration laws — but would respond when ensuring public safety and that those involved in a federal operation are "not going to get hurt.” Kirkpatrick made the remarks at a press conference marking the end of a 15-year consent decree between the city and federal government, after then-Mayor Mitch Landrieu invited the Obama Justice Department to probe the agency for alleged "pattern or practice" of civil rights-related misconduct. During press questions, Kirkpatrick responded to one reporter by saying that to "be in the country undocumented is (a) civil issue.” "We will not enforce civil law, and so our support is to make sure they’re not going to get hurt and our community is not in danger," Kirkpatrick said. "Am I expecting them to come?" she said. "Yes, I’m expecting them to come. But can I tell you they’re coming Friday? No, I can’t tell you that.” "If they call for help because they say they’re going to be hurt. We are going to be there in order to help anyone in danger. We are not enforcing — because we can’t.” Kirkpatrick’s comments swiftly went viral on social media, with critics — largely from the right — lambasting her for claiming her agency cannot enforce certain immigration laws.

Blaze [11/30/2025 5:00 PM, Cortney Weil, 1442K] reports a convicted sex offender college professor whose criminal past made him "ineligible for legal status in the United States" has been arrested by ICE, according to a DHS press release published earlier this week. On November 12, ICE officers arrested Sumith Gunasekera of Sri Lanka in Detroit. According to the press release, he told officers that he was employed as an associate professor at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan, about 200 miles northwest of Detroit. Gunasekera first came to the U.S. in February 1998, spent some time in Canada, and then returned to the U.S. later that year on a student visa, the press release said. During his stint in Canada, he was arrested in Brampton, Ontario, on two separate occasions just three days apart. In the first instance, he was arrested for uttering death threats. In the second, he was arrested for invitation to sexual touching and sexual interference. He told officers at the time that the second incident involved a minor, DHS reported. In November 1998, a Canadian criminal court convicted him of utter threat to cause death or bodily harm and sexual interference and sentenced him to one month of incarceration and one year of probation, DHS said. In 2012, Gunasekera filed for a change in immigration status with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, at which point his Canadian convictions came to light. Those convictions rendered him "ineligible for legal status in the United States," the press release said. Despite his ineligibility, Gunasekera "repeatedly attempted to manipulate our immigration system between applications, denials, and appeals," it added. "It’s sickening that a sex offender was working as a professor on an American college campus and was given access to vulnerable students to potentially victimize them," said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. "Thanks to the brave ICE law enforcement officers, this sicko is behind bars and no longer able to prey on Americans. His days of exploiting the immigration system are OVER. Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, criminals are not welcome in the U.S.”

New York Times [11/30/2025 8:36 PM, Amanda Holpuch and Annie Correal, 135475K] reports a 19-year-old college student was about to board a flight to surprise her family for Thanksgiving when she was detained at Boston Logan International Airport and deported to Honduras two days later, her father and lawyer said on Sunday. The student, Any Lucía López Belloza, was brought by her parents from Honduras to the United States when she was 7. Her father, Francis López, said in a telephone interview on Sunday that neither Ms. López nor her parents knew there was an order for her deportation. “When they arrested Any, that’s when they told her,” said Mr. López, a tailor. He said his employer had arranged and paid for his daughter’s travel to Austin, Texas, to surprise him at work. Ms. López’s lawyer, Todd Pomerleau, described an opaque process for obtaining information about her case, including the grounds for her deportation. He said she had been deported in violation of a court order that a federal judge signed on Friday that said Ms. López could not be removed from the United States while her case was pending. Ms. López, a freshman studying business at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., was about to board a Southwest Airlines flight to Texas early on Nov. 20. She was told there was a problem with her ticket, so she went to customer service and was surrounded by immigration agents, Mr. Pomerleau said. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency told The Boston Globe that an immigration judge had ordered Ms. López deported in 2015, when she was a child. The agency did not respond to a request for comment on Sunday. Mr. Pomerleau said he checked her information in the Executive Office for Immigration Review database and could not find any record of her original deportation order. “So I’m not convinced she has a removal order, and if she did have one, she should have been notified of it, because she’s completely unaware of this situation,” he said. On Saturday, after she spent a night detained in Texas, she was put on a bus with shackles on her wrists, waist and ankles before being put on a flight to Honduras, Mr. Pomerleau said. Ms. López, who is staying with her grandparents in Honduras, asked that her father speak on her behalf, her father said. He said she had found it upsetting to recount the details of her removal, in particular being detained and shackled. He said his daughter told him she had not signed any paperwork authorizing her removal from the United States, as some people do to avoid lengthy detentions.

Breitbart [11/30/2025 12:45 PM, Amy Furr, 2416K] reports an Idaho saloon is helping President Donald Trump crack down on illegal immigration in a unique way. The Old State Saloon in Eagle made an announcement Saturday on social media that ignited a firestorm online, Fox News reported. When word of the deal spread online, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reacted with a gif of a dinosaur character dropping what appeared to be a beer can while it had a dumbfounded look on its face. "If you’d like to claim your free beers, send a detailed email with any evidence, photos, videos, summary of events, dates, and times etc to: deportations@oldstatesalooon.com," the saloon wrote in a reply to its initial post. In a subsequent post early Sunday, the saloon, which is owned by Mark Fitzpatrick, announced another beer giveaway. "For the month of December it’s ‘Merry Snitchmas’ at Old State Saloon: Manly American Mondays — all American Citizen males who support ICE get one free beer! Ladies’ ‘I’m Telling’ Tuesdays — BOGO for American woman willing to tell ICE about any illegals, to get them deported. Wednesday: American heterosexual couples get 10% off their entire bill. Get married and make American babies, if at all possible!"

Reported similarly:
Daily Caller [11/30/2025 11:43 AM, Alexander Pease, 835K]

Breitbart [11/30/2025 11:19 PM, Staff, 2416K] reports US President Donald Trump said Sunday his administration intends to maintain a pause on asylum decisions for "a long time" after an Afghan national allegedly shot two National Guard members near the White House, killing one of them. When asked to specify how long it would last, Trump said he had "no time limit" in mind for the measure, which the Department of Homeland Security says is linked to a list of 19 countries already facing US travel restrictions. "We don’t want those people," Trump continued. "You know why we don’t want them? Because many have been no good, and they shouldn’t be in our country.” The Trump administration issued the pause in the aftermath of the shooting in Washington on November 26, that left 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom dead and another guardsman critically wounded. A 29-year-old Afghan national, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, has been arrested and charged with first degree murder in connection with the incident. Lakanwal had been part of a CIA-backed "partner force" fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, and entered the United States as part of a resettlement program following the American military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. Lakanwal had been granted asylum in April 2025, under the Trump administration, but officials have blamed what they called lax vetting by the government of Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden for his admission to US soil during the Afghan airlift. Trump wrote after the shooting he planned to "permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the US system to fully recover.” Asked which nationalities would be affected, the Department of Homeland Security pointed AFP to a list of 19 countries — including Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Iran and Myanmar — which since June have all faced travel restrictions to the United States. USA Today [11/30/2025 10:49 PM, Thao Nguyen, 67103K] reports "I don’t think they are all ‘Third World,’ but in many cases they are ‘Third World.’ They are not good countries. They are crime-ridden countries. They’re countries that don’t do a good job," Trump said. "We frankly don’t need their people coming into our country telling us what to do." After the Nov. 26 attack, the Trump administration ordered widespread reviews of immigration policies, including a sweeping reexamination of green cards issued to people from 19 countries considered "high-risk." Speaking on NBC’s "Meet the Press" and ABC’s "This Week," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Nov. 30 that immigration officials would consider deporting people with active asylum cases if it was warranted.

Daily Wire [11/30/2025 1:29 PM, Tim Pearce, 2494K] reports President Donald Trump declined to lay out a timeline on his administration’s planned pause on offers of asylum regarding 19 countries "of concern.” Trump defended the pause — but did not say when he might relax it — while speaking with reporters on board Air Force One on Sunday. The president said that the United States is better off without accepting refugees from the targeted countries. The 19 countries "of concern" included in the asylum pause are Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela. "We don’t want people. We have enough problems. We don’t want those people," the president said. "You know why we don’t want them? Because many have been no good, and they shouldn’t be in our country.” Asylum claims that will be blocked under the order are from countries that are "not friendly to us and countries that are out of control themselves–countries like Somalia that have virtually no government, no military, no police. All they do is go around killing each other, then they come into our country and tell us how to run our country," said Trump. The president pointed to the case of Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, who has long been suspected of committing immigration fraud by marrying her brother. The president suggested that Omar married her brother to illegally immigrate to the United States, and that if the accusation is true, Omar should be thrown "the hell out of our country.” Omar has previously denied those claims. Trump first announced the pause on accepting asylum claims from 19 countries in a pair of posts on Truth Social on Thanksgiving Day. The president added that he plans to investigate and remove foreigners who are not citizens residing in the United States who are not a "net asset" to the country. "I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover, terminate all of the millions of Biden illegal admissions, including those signed by Sleepy Joe Biden’s Autopen, and remove anyone who is not a net asset to the United States, or is incapable of loving our Country, end all Federal benefits and subsidies to noncitizens of our Country, denaturalize migrants who undermine domestic tranquility, and deport any Foreign National who is a public charge, security risk, or non-compatible with Western Civilization," said Trump.

NPR [12/1/2025 5:00 AM, Ximena Bustillo and Leila Fadel, 34837K] reports the Trump administration is intensifying its efforts to restrict legal migration, pausing all asylum decisions after an Afghan national was charged in the attack on two National Guard members. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

NPR [11/30/2025 8:14 AM, Lauren Frayer, 28013K] reports NPR’s Lauren Frayer speaks to immigration attorney Mariam Masumi about President Trump’s vowed crackdowns on Afghans and other immigrants following the shooting of 2 National Guard members in DC. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

FOX News [12/1/2025 1:08 AM, Bradford Betz, 40621K] reports President Donald Trump on Sunday said his administration’s halt on asylum processing in the wake of the deadly National Guard shooting earlier this week could last "a long time," and floated the possibility of revoking citizenship from some naturalized immigrants with criminal histories. While the administration has framed the asylum freeze as an emergency response to Wednesday’s shooting, the president’s comments to reporters aboard Air Force One suggest the restrictions could evolve into a longer-term approach. President Trump tied the pause to a more robust stance toward 19 countries he derided as "crime-ridden" and vowed that he would "absolutely" de-naturalize immigrants convicted of crimes — if it is within his presidential authority. "We have enough problems. We don’t want those people," Trump said, adding that there was no time limit on the moratorium. "We have criminals that came into our country and they were naturalized," Trump said, vowing that, "If I have the power to do it – I’m not sure that I do, but if I do – I would de-naturalize. Absolutely.” Trump clarified his recent use of the term "reverse migration," saying it means removing people already inside the U.S. "Get people out that are in our country – get them out of here," Trump said. Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national, is charged with shooting two West Virginia National Guard members just blocks from the White House on Wednesday. U.S. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, was killed, while her colleague, U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains in critical condition. Both Guard members had been deployed to D.C. as part of Trump’s crime-fighting mission that federalized D.C. police. Trump said he has invited both Guard members’ family members to the White House. "I said, ‘When you’re ready, because that’s a tough thing, come to the White House. We’re going to honor Sarah," Trump told reporters. "And ‘likewise with Andrew, recover or not.” Lakanwal faces one count of first-degree murder and two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed in the shooting, charges that prompted the Trump administration to halt all asylum decisions and pause issuing visas for people traveling on Afghan passports. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

The AP [11/30/2025 10:59 PM, Jack Brook, Rebecca Santana and Sara Cline, 14862K] reports about 250 federal border agents are expected to launch a months-long immigration crackdown Monday in southeast Louisiana and into Mississippi. The operation dubbed "Swamp Sweep," which aims to arrest 5,000 people, is centered in liberal New Orleans and is the latest federal immigration enforcement operation to target a Democratic-run city as President Trump’s administration pursues its mass deportation agenda. Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, who has led aggressive operations in Chicago, Los Angeles and Charlotte, N.C., is expected to lead the campaign. Many in the greater New Orleans area, particularly in Latino communities, have been on edge since the planned operations were reported this month. Republican Gov. Jeff Landry said he welcomes the federal agents. Bovino has become the Trump administration’s go-to operative for leading large-scale, high-profile immigration enforcement campaigns. During his operation in Chicago, federal agents rappelled from a helicopter into an apartment complex and fired pepper balls and tear gas at protesters. Federal agents arrested more than 3,200 immigrants during a surge in the Chicago area in recent months, but have not provided many details. Court documents on roughly 600 recent arrests showed that only a few of those arrested had criminal records representing a "high public safety risk," according to federal government data. The Border Patrol, which does not typically operate in dense urban areas or in situations with protesters, has been accused of heavy-handed tactics, prompting several lawsuits. A federal judge in Chicago this month accused Bovino of lying and rebuked him for deploying chemical irritants against protesters. Bovino has doubled down on the efficacy of his agency’s operations. "We’re finding and arresting illegal aliens, making these communities safer for the Americans who live there," he said in a post on X. The Department of Justice has accused New Orleans of undermining federal immigration enforcement and included it on a list of 18 so-called sanctuary cities. The city’s jail, which has been under long-standing oversight from a federal judge, does not cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under most circumstances, and its Police Department views immigration enforcement as a civil matter outside its jurisdiction. CNN [12/1/2025 4:01 AM, Zoe Sottile, 18595K] reports as Department of Homeland Security agents are expected to surge into New Orleans this week, the latest Democrat-led city targeted by a federal immigration enforcement crackdown, a common thread has emerged among local officials: They’re being kept in the dark – and it’s spiking fear among the immigrant community. There is “mass chaos and confusion” as the campaign looms, newly elected Councilmember at-Large Matthew Willard told CNN. He said he and other local officials have received scant details about the operation – and the information they have received “isn’t reassuring.” “We’re really just fearful of the unknown, and looking at the coverage that we’ve seen in other cities by CNN, we certainly don’t want that here in the city of New Orleans,” he said. He’s one of several leaders who say that they’re looking to DHS operations in past cities, both for examples of the heavy-handed tactics federal agents employ and strategies communities can use to protest and organize. The operation comes after top Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino and Customs and Border Patrol agents spent around a week in Charlotte, North Carolina, following a weekslong Chicago-area operation that led to harrowing scenes: a daycare teacher arrested inside a childcare center; parents separated from their US citizen children; and protesters struck or hit with tear gas by federal agents.

ABC News [11/30/2025 10:31 AM, Staff, 30493K] reports Adam Stahl, the TSA’s acting deputy administrator, discusses how the federal agency is dealing with the increase in travelers over the holiday weekend. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Los Angeles Times [11/30/2025 3:20 PM, Lisa Boone, 14862K] reports as travelers prepare to fly home on what is anticipated to be one of the busiest travel days in 15 years, a powerful winter storm in the Midwest and Great Lakes region has prompted the cancellation of hundreds of flights nationwide. As of noon Sunday, 6,211 flights have been delayed into and out of the United States, and 1,006 flights have been canceled, according to flight tracker FlightAware, which provides live flight delay and cancellation updates. Out of Los Angeles International Airport, the busiest airport in California, six flights had been canceled, and 126 had been delayed. Inbound flights to LAX were also affected, with 12 flights canceled and 155 delayed. Hollywood Burbank Airport and Long Beach Airport were also impacted with several flights delayed on Sunday. In a statement on Nov. 21, the Transportation Security Administration said that more than 17.8 million travelers were expected to fly from Nov. 25 to Dec. 2, with more than 3 million traveling on Sunday. "We are projecting that the Sunday after Thanksgiving will be one of the busiest travel days in TSA history," said Adam Stahl, senior official performing the duties of deputy TSA administrator.

New York Times [12/1/2025 2:54 AM, Jin Yu Young, 153395K] reports millions of people in parts of New York, Pennsylvania and New England were under a winter storm watch early Monday, as forecasters warned that a potential nor’easter could leave up to a foot of snow by Tuesday. Winter storm watches, indicating potentially hazardous weather within 48 hours, were scheduled to expand on Monday and Tuesday to parts of Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and Vermont. At least six inches of snow accumulation were expected in much of the region. A separate advisory for snow and sleet was set to begin on Monday morning in Arkansas, and to gradually expand northeast through parts of the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic through Tuesday. The National Weather Service said the chance of snow would be highest in parts of the Appalachian Mountains, interior New England and the northern Mid-Atlantic. Some of the highest snowfall totals — up to a foot — were expected in and around the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York. Rain and light snow had already begun to fall in parts of New England and New York as of early Monday morning, according to the Weather Service.

ABC News [11/30/2025 4:21 PM, Bill Hutchinson, 30493K] reports three people were killed on Saturday when a catamaran they were aboard flipped over and ejected them into the Caloosahatchee River on Florida’s Gulf Coast, authorities said. The tragedy unfolded around 4 p.m. local time near the Cape Coral Yacht Club between Cape Coral and Fort Myers, according to the Lee County Marine Emergency Response Team. Four people were aboard the catamaran when it overturned, officials said. During a search by state, local and federal agencies, three of the victims were pulled from the river on Saturday. Two of the victims were pronounced dead, while the third victim remained in critical condition in a hospital on Sunday, officials said. On Sunday, a fourth victim, described as a 60-year-old missing since the accident, was found dead and retrieved from the river following an extensive search by the U.S. Coast Guard, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Stars and Stripes [11/30/2025 4:44 PM, Anita Lee, 1358K] reports the 30-year-old private pilot presumed dead aboard a Cessna Skyhawk that plunged into Lake Pontchartrain, La., was an expectant father and Navy officer stationed in Gulfport, Miss. The U.S. Navy has confirmed the identity of Lt. David Michael Jahn with permission from his family. The U.S. Coast Guard on Wednesday afternoon suspended a search for Jahn and the flight instructor aboard the plane, Taylor Dickey, who was also 30 years old. Recovery operations continued, with the United Cajun Navy posting Saturday evening on Facebook that it had located "a large part of the aircraft." The post said that sonar teams, divers and Team Texas K9 units worked to pinpoint the site. Jahn and Dickey were on a training flight from Gulfport to New Orleans in a single-engine Cessna from Apollo Flight Training and Aircraft Management. The Lakefront Airport in New Orleans reported losing communication Monday evening with the Cessna when the plane was about 4 miles north of the airport. The family relayed a statement about Jahn through Navy Expeditionary Combat Command. Jahn was a civil engineer corps officer serving with Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 1 in Gulfport.

New York Post [11/30/2025 8:18 PM, Zoe Hussain, 42219K] reports a flight instructor and her student — a father-to-be and US Navy officer — are presumed dead after their plane plummeted into a New Orleans lake, according to authorities and reports. Taylor Dickey, 30, and her student, later identified as 30-year-old Navy Lt. David Michael Jahn, took off from Gulfport–Biloxi International Airport in a Cessna Skyhawk on Monday, the Coast Guard told WWL 4. The plane vanished from the flight radar at roughly 6:30 p.m., four miles north of New Orleans Lakefront Airport, the outlet said. There was no distress call from the aircraft, and it is not immediately clear who was in the pilot’s seat when the plane crashed into Lake Pontchartrain, Michael Carastro, the owner of the flight school that owned the plane, said in a press conference on Tuesday. The impact of the plane into the lake was "very, very violent," Carastro added. An hour after it vanished, search teams saw discoloration in the water, and Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries personnel recovered a seat cushion and other debris likely from the aircraft, the Coast Guard told the outlet. The search continued for nearly two days before it was suspended on Wednesday afternoon, according to Nola.com. Jahn and Dickey were both presumed dead after the crash, Carastro said. "Nobody knows what happened at this point. The initial, the preliminary data, indicates that it was not mechanical, so we are going to wait on the official agencies that are investigating the operation. I’m not gonna make any suppositions on how it happened," he added.

NewsNation [11/30/2025 5:22 PM, Emma Kidger, 8017K] Video: HERE reports the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office has announced that the four victims shot in a mass shooting in Stockton, California were ages 8, 9, 14 and 21. The sheriff’s office said that people had gathered for a family event when the shooting occurred on the 1900 block of Lucile Avenue. Just before 6 p.m., 15 victims were struck in the shooting. Sunday morning, Stockton Mayor Christina Fugazi confirmed at a press conference that the shooting was gang-related. Fugazi said that President Donald Trump’s advisors called to offer help and that she’s asking the U.S. District Attorney to help find the suspect. "This is Thanksgiving weekend. This is when families come together, celebrate, share memories, give each other love," Fugazi said. "Unfortunately tonight, heaven is a little bigger with the individuals, children and adults that unfortunately did not make it.” Jason Lee, vice mayor and city council member, said the hall was hosting a child’s birthday party, according to his Facebook post.

Reported similarly:
Univision19 [11/30/2025 4:47 PM, Staff, 5004K]

New York Post [11/30/2025 9:33 PM, Zoe Hussain, 42219K] reports a California mass shooting that left three children and a young adult dead at a little girl’s birthday party was gang-related, according to the town’s mayor. A total of 15 victims were struck when the ​deadly chaos unfolded just before 6 p.m. on Saturday at Monkey Space, a banquet hall in Stockton, roughly 40 miles south of Sacramento, Fox40 reported. Stockton Mayor Christina Fugazi told the outlet the shooting was related to gang violence, labeling the tragic incident "domestic terrorism.” "Let’s call it what it is. This is domestic terrorism. This is gang violence, and it has to stop in our city," Fugazi told the outlet. She also added that President Donald Trump’s advisers had called her early Sunday to offer their assistance — and that she has asked the US District Attorney to find the gunman who remains on the lam. The White House did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.

FOX News [11/30/2025 3:17 PM, Staff, 40621K] Video: HERE reports Fox News chief national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin reports on how artificial intelligence is changing military technology on ‘Fox News Sunday.’

NBC News [12/1/2025 3:05 AM, Megan Lebowitz, 34509K] reports top U.S. officials and a Ukrainian delegation met in Florida on Sunday for the latest round of discussions on a plan to end the war between Russia and Ukraine — talks both sides described positively but about which they provided no details and took no questions. "Much work remains, but today was, again, a very productive and useful session where I think additional progress was made," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in short remarks to reporters after the meeting. Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff met with a Ukrainian delegation headed by Rustem Umerov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council. Also present was President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who does not hold an official U.S. government position but serves as an unofficial adviser. Rubio emphasized wanting to set up Ukraine for "prosperity." He did not delve into specifics, nor did he take questions from reporters. "As I told you earlier this morning, our goal here is to end the war, but it’s more than just to end the war," he said. "We don’t just want to end the war; we also want to help Ukraine be safe forever, so never again will they face another invasion, and equally importantly, we want them to enter an age of true prosperity.” Rubio added that the discussions were "not just about the terms that ends fighting, it’s about also the terms that set up Ukraine for long-term prosperity.” Umerov expressed gratitude to the U.S. and echoed Rubio’s sentiments, saying, "Our objective is a prosperous, strong Ukraine.” "We discussed all the important matters that are important for Ukraine, for Ukrainian people, and U.S. was super supportive," he added, going on to characterize the meeting as "productive" and "successful.” U.S. and Ukrainian officials discussed the details of a potential peace framework this month in Geneva. Earlier, Trump tried to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to accept a proposal that would have given Russia more Ukrainian land beyond what it currently controlled. Trump told reporters Sunday aboard Air Force One that he spoke with Rubio and Witkoff after the meeting, saying, "They’re doing well.” "Ukraine’s got some difficult little problems," he said, adding that he believed both countries wanted the war to end. He clarified to a reporter that the "problems" was a reference to a corruption scandal. Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, a top negotiator in peace talks, resigned Friday following an anti-corruption raid on his home. Zelenskyy said on X after the meeting that Umerov reported information from Sunday’s talks, but he did not disclose details. "It is important that the talks have a constructive dynamic and that all issues were discussed openly and with a clear focus on ensuring Ukraine’s sovereignty and national interests," he said, going on to thank Trump and the administration. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reuters [11/30/2025 10:49 PM, Jeff Mason, 36480K] reports U.S. and Ukrainian officials held what both sides called productive talks on Sunday about a peace deal with Russia, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressing optimism about progress despite challenges in ending the more than 3-year-long war. "We continue to be realistic about how difficult this is, but optimistic, particularly given the fact that as we’ve made progress, I think there is a shared vision here that this is not just about ending the war ... it is about securing Ukraine’s future, a future that we hope will be more prosperous than it’s ever been," Rubio said in Florida, where the talks were being held. Rubio said the aim is to create a pathway that leaves Ukraine sovereign and independent. The discussions follow roughly two weeks of negotiations that began with a U.S. blueprint for peace. Critics said the plan initially favored Russia, which started the Ukraine conflict with a 2022 invasion. Special envoy Steve Witkoff and U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, were also present representing the U.S. side. Witkoff is expected to meet Russian counterparts later this week. "There are a lot of moving parts, and obviously there’s another party involved here that will have to be a part of the equation, and that will continue later this week, when Mr. Witkoff travels to Moscow," Rubio said. Trump has expressed frustration at not being able to end the war. He pledged as a presidential candidate to do so in one day and has said he was surprised it has been so hard, given what he calls a strong relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has largely resisted concessions to stop the fighting. Trump’s team has pressured Ukraine to make significant concessions itself, including giving up territory to Russia. The talks shifted on Sunday with a change in leadership from the Ukrainian side. A new chief negotiator, national security council secretary Rustem Umerov, led the talks for Kyiv after the resignation on Friday of previous team leader Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, amid a corruption scandal at home. As the meeting began, Umerov thanked the United States and its officials for their support. "U.S. is hearing us, U.S. is supporting us, U.S. is walking besides us," Umerov said in English. After the meeting, he declared the talks productive. "We discussed all the important matters that are important for Ukraine, for Ukrainian people and U.S. was super supportive," Umerov said. The Sunday talks took place near Miami at a private club, Shell Bay, developed by Witkoff’s real estate business.

Reported similarly:
CBS News [11/30/2025 9:10 PM, Staff, 39474K]

CNN [11/30/2025 6:30 PM, Jennifer Hansler, Daria Tarasova-Markina, Alejandra Jaramillo, and Betsy Klein, 18595K] reports US President Donald Trump expressed optimism after a high-level meeting between US officials and a Ukrainian delegation in Miami on Sunday, suggesting there was a “good chance” of a deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine. Talks were “going along, and they’re going along well,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “I think that there’s a good chance we can make a deal,” he added. His comments came after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio cast the peace talks as fragile, and underscored that Russia would have a central role to play in any deal. “This is delicate, it’s complicated,” Rubio told reporters after the meeting, which included special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. “There are a lot of moving parts, and obviously there’s another party involved here that they’ll have to be a part of the equation,” Rubio said. The Secretary of State described the meeting in Miami as “a very productive and useful session where … additional progress was made,” but cautioned that more work remained. He said the administration’s diplomatic push would intensify this week. Witkoff will travel to Moscow on Monday, where he is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a US official told CNN. Rubio said US officials had “been in touch in varying degrees with the Russian side, but we have a pretty good understanding of their views as well.” The top US diplomat said the teams were not only working on terms that would end the fighting between Ukraine and Russia but also “terms that set up Ukraine for long-term prosperity.”

Axios [11/30/2025 10:56 PM, Barak Ravid, 12972K] reports negotiations between the U.S. and Ukraine on Sunday focused on where the de facto border with Russia would be drawn under a peace deal, two Ukrainian officials tell Axios. They described the five-hour meeting as "difficult" and "intense," but productive. Russian President Vladimir Putin — who’s expected to meet with President Trump’s envoy on Tuesday — insists Russia won’t stop until it controls the entire Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. The U.S. wants Ukraine to hand over territory there to convince Putin to make peace, but that would be a painful and politically explosive concession. The U.S. side arrived at Sunday’s meeting at U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff’s exclusive Shell Bay golf club near Miami hoping to make progress on the territory issue, which Witkoff could then present to Putin in their meeting. After an hour in a wider format, the meeting narrowed to three officials from each side — with the line of territorial control virtually the only issue discussed, according to the two Ukrainian officials. On the U.S. side were Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner. The Ukrainian side was represented by national security adviser Rustem Umerov, military chief of staff Gen. Andrii Hnatov and deputy head of military intelligence Vadym Skibitskyi. After the talks with their teams ended, Umerov held another one-on-one meeting with Witkoff. Umerov then called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to brief him on the talks. "It was intense but not negative. We really appreciate serious U.S. engagement. Our position is that we have to make everything to help U.S. succeed without losing our country and preventing another aggression from happening," one of the Ukrainian officials wrote to Axios after the meeting. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had wanted to discuss territory directly with Trump, but Trump said he’d only meet Zelensky or Putin again once a deal is close. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on his way back from Florida to Washington on Sunday that he was briefed about the results of the negotiations and thinks "there’s a good chance we can make a deal." A senior U.S. official said the talks on Sunday were "positive." "We have made significant progress in advancing a just peace and in bringing our positions closer to those of the American side. Our key goals — security, sovereignty, and a reliable peace — remain unchanged and are shared by the American side," Umerov wrote on Telegram after the talks. Umerov is expected to meet Zelensky in Paris on Monday and give him a more detailed report about the negotiations, Ukrainian officials say. Witkoff plans to depart for Moscow on Monday and meet Putin on Tuesday. "The main question is where the Russians stand and if their intentions are real. Let’s see what Witkoff brings from Moscow," a Ukrainian official said.

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